Renegade Hearts
by AngelKairi
Summary: [dark yuriku for an Annjirika.] TEMP. HIATUS UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE.
1. City of Lost Souls

**----x._ Renegade Hearts_  
Chapter 1: _City of Lost Souls_

* * *

**

_Traverse Town. The city of lost souls, a place for people who have no where else to go. Who have no escape, no haven, to return to._ _That's why I'm here. I have no place to go._

The black-cloaked figure walked steadily through the night. Footsteps – his own – echoed eerily in the erratic dripping of water from the roofs. His silently purposeful walk barely disturbed the copious puddles that reflected a dark night sky filled with stars. A wisp of silver hair escaped from under the concealing hood, and a pale black-gloved hand rose automatically to push it back.

* * *

She sighed. _Alone, as always, on the eve of his death. _She thought sadly, pushing her small lithe body out of the plain wooden chair. _If Aerith was here, she'd be some comfort. But she's in Hollow Bastion._ "Maybe I could go talk to Cloud." She mused out loud. "But I don't know where he is tonight, he didn't tell me. Cid went with Aerith – she can't pilot a Gummi ship on her own – and Cloud… he would be training. Or remembering." She added sadly, a touch of bitterness tainting the seemingly careless words.

She lifted a plain silvery-grey cloak from a hook beside the door and pulled it over her shoulders, automatically securing her Conformer shuriken to her belt at the same time. One hand pushed the heavy bolt on the door back, the other clutched her cloak closed against the icy wind that would hit once she was outside. Shaking ink-black bangs out of her eyes, she stepped outside into the deserted First District and shut the solid wooden door on the small, sparsely furnished room with the slowly dying fire.

The house seemed no less empty than it had when it had been occupied moments before.

* * *

His feet followed a pre-described path, like a methodical dance, unknown even to himself. They took him along straight streets with winding side alleys, up a rickety ladder and over rooftops, grey cobbles and slippery red tiles alike making no difference to his journey. How could it? He didn't know himself where he was going. _Why _he was going.

Back down the other side of a building, but he barely noticed. Nothing affected the one thought that stood out in his mind. Not the rain, the darkness, the feeling of danger and apprehension that loomed larger in his mind with each pace he took. _I have to go. But what will happen?

* * *

_

_It's cold… but he is colder. Well, a tad gloomy there… but it's true. He's not even here anymore. Why did it happen? _

Her indigo eyes roamed the path ahead, checking for anything that might cause her to misstep. Her shadow, caused only by the occasional street lamp as the night was moonless, stretched out behind her some of the time, at others just a squat black shapeless form beneath her ever moving feet.

She shivered. _Shadows… they're the reason you aren't here with me. The darkness took you from me. _

And another star went out with a slight flicker far above.

* * *

Buildings loomed all about the tall slim stranger. Shadows made the nearest walls seem like bottomless pits, and the farthest appear to be nameless nightmarish creatures, dredged from the deepest pits of Hell to haunt the worlds and prey upon the unsuspecting. _Not the innocent. No one is ever truly innocent. _He thought with a tiny smile of mockery, and glanced at his surroundings.

_I must go._

He quickened his step.

* * *

Fingers of straight black hair brushed their way across the young woman's face. With one hand, she pulled the strands back behind her left ear. The icy wind protested, attempting to tug it away from her control again. She scowled; a faint tinge of irritation cut through the lingering apprehension. _It's so cold… why am I out here? There must be some reason I came… no_ _one should be this insane._

She hurried onwards, towards the market area in the Second District.

* * *

He glanced up, up at a sign nearly obscured by age and neglect and a wind that whirled snow around and around, partly clouding his vision. He mouthed the words silently: _Second District._

Shouldering the massive doors open, he entered the District through the impressively large portal.

* * *

She stopped suddenly, unable to explain or fight off the sudden blanket of dread that settled over her shoulders like a cloak of doom. _What is it?_ She thought, fear rising up in her chest.

She stood in front of the First District exit to the Second, indecision weighing heavily on her. Fear gnawed at her heart.

* * *

He moved faster and faster. He was nearing his target, without knowing what his target was.

Around the corner…

…_quicker, quicker…_

…out into a broad cobbled area…

The sign across the market place, as he assumed it must be, said simply "Traverse Hotel".

His lip curled bitterly. _Temporary accommodation in a place where none leave. Where's the sense in that?_

He stepped out into the centre of the District.

* * *

Heart in her mouth, she shoved one door open and raced through. Her heart was pounding, her small hands sweaty on the shuriken she now gripped, her booted feet moving swiftly.

She halted suddenly at the wrought iron carving that decorated the top of the mosaic fountain. _There._

Her heart plummeted. Her mouth dried almost instantly. _Not again…_

A black-garbed figure was fighting for his life in the centre of the market place against thousands of black Shadows.

_Not the Shadows…no, I can't deal with shadows, I need light… not again!

* * *

_

Where did they come from? He fought on furiously, face totally composed. He didn't care if they had no conscious thought. He would show no weakness, no emotion, to anyone. Especially not his enemies. _I won't die like this. Not beaten by a mere Shadow… not by a thousand mere Shadows!_

Whirling to catch three Shadows in mid-air with his weapon, he stopped suddenly, stunned. A young woman watched him from the First District entrance, her white face horrified.

A Shadow pounced for his unprotected back. Ripping its long black claws through his cloak, it sought the heart greedily. He fell forward, and the Shadows swarmed.

* * *

"_Nooooooooo!" _the word burst from her lips before she could stop it. In desperation she threw her two shuriken she'd grasped since she had left the house at the writhing mound of small black Heartless. Five vanished instantly, their hearts flying up, and seven more moved in to take their place.

The young woman leapt the elevated wall down to the overwhelmed stranger, whipping out two more shuriken and hurling them as well. The second they had left her hands, she gripped her Conformer with both hands and rammed it swiftly into the back of a Shadow.

_I can't let it happen again!

* * *

_

He couldn't breathe. Darkness filled his mouth, his nostrils… it crept into the pores of his skin… ripped gashes down his right thigh… tiny creatures clamoured to touch him, feed on him, suck the life out of him… remove his _heart –_

It stopped suddenly as he was yanked upright. One last Shadow, the one that had brought him low, clung to his frame, and was vanquished as it was jerked from his back. He gave one brief gasp of agony, then straightened almost fully to look at his saviour.

It was the girl. She gave one curt nod of acknowledgement and somersaulted over him so they were back to back. He understood her meaning immediately: _now we fight. _He hefted his weapon in agreement- the Heartless were aptly named. _No reason they'd wait around for introductions, _he thought with the barest trace of humour.

Two Shadows sprang at him, one at either side. He slashed right through one and kept going through the other coming from the right, severing the head and an arm from the rest of its small body. He gave a small tight grin of satisfaction as the bodies shuddered and vanished, the glowing hearts spiralling into the sky. _You deserved that._

At his back the woman was holding her own quite easily against a deluge of Shadows. Bottom lip trembling, she was slicing the small Heartless with a massive shuriken, not being far enough out of range to throw the smaller ones. _Pah. This works just as well anyway- already sent six to their… do Heartless even _have _graves?_

The silver-haired youth caught the corner of her eye and gave her a grim smile as though he'd just heard her thoughts. She smiled just as bleakly and battled on.

It proved to be only a dozen more Heartless they had to fend off – the rest slunk, sank or scattered away after more of their number were destroyed by the dangerous duo. The ninja girl watched them go with satisfaction, wiping her large shuriken clean of the black blood on a small scarf which she then tossed away. Tucking that and the four smaller throwing stars she'd first thrown back into her artillery-type belt, she turned around to the stranger she had just defended.

A gasp choked her throat for a split second and she ran quickly to him as he sank to his knees, black hood obscuring his face. A tendril of darkness stroked his arm for a moment then fled across the cobbles, unnoticed by either of them.

Hauling him up to lean on her shoulder, she pushed his hood back on impulse, gazing curiously at his face. Sharply defined marble white features were set off by a set of aquamarine eyes, almost hidden by the long sagging lashes. Straight silver hair down to his shoulders framed the nearly angelic face.

He managed to catch his breath painfully, and looked down at her inquisitive face. The dark indigo eyes surveyed him with interest. "Who are you?" He asked her, mainly to stop the look.

"Me? Yuffie Leonhart – I mean, Kisaragi. Are you going to be right enough to get back to my house?" She looked him over suddenly with more concern than curiosity. "And who are – oh, God. Is that a Keyblade?" her face, before pink-cheeked with exhilaration, suddenly drained itself of colour. "But there's only one Keyblade…"

"There are two." He informed her, lifting his weapon to show her with a slight smile tugging at the corner of his lips. "I'm Riku."

* * *

Edited and redone for obvious reasons. The main one being because I love Ann so, and if I can't get the damned writer's block out of the way then I might as well make the rest of it interesting for her. Uhm... just because, Ann. Goddammit Cloud. There.

**tally!sock **


	2. More Questions

**----x. _Renegade Hearts  
_Chapter 2_: More Questions

* * *

_**

The young woman sighed, and gently touched the bloody thigh of the silver-haired youth before her. _That'll need fixing. Riku, he called himself. Where is he from? I thought only Sora had a Keyblade… but this one looks different. Hell, it even has a different _aura _around it! _Yuffie's wandering gaze came to rest on the unconscious Riku's weapon, where he had dropped it as they had finally staggered into her small house. Ever inquisitive, she picked it up for a better look.

_Feels different, too…_ frowning, the ninja ran her fingers over the hilt. Her fingers brushed against something on the underside. Curious, she flipped it over, and her breath caught.

It was the symbol of the Heartless – but slightly different. Where both curls that made the heart were usually the one colour, one was grey and one was white. The grey was very dark, almost black, in stark contrast to the blazing white tendril on the left hand side.

She examined the rest of the wrought iron Keyblade carefully, but found no more symbols of any sort on the four-foot length. _Why does he have one? Leon – I mean, Cloud would have received word if there was a new Keyblade Master… maybe he's an impostor. But why would he choose to impersonate the one person on the hit list of every evil being in all the known worlds? This is crazy… too many questions._

The lithe little fighter stood and stretched lazily, the mysterious youth's Keyblade dangling from her right fist. Mid-yawn, she stared at it clenched there in her hand, and a small idea formed in her mind.

Hefting the blade so she had a better grip on the fancy hilt, she swung it experimentally. She silently cursed as it barely missed a small lamp. _I need a bigger house._

She moved into the center of the tiny room, and begun again, dealing out a series of blows and slashes to invisible enemies on all sides. _Hmmmm… I'm a bit rusty on all these moves… maybe I should start practicing again. Squal – Cloud wouldn't be too happy to see all that teaching go to waste…_

Her weapon whistled down towards the back of an unsuspecting "Shadow Heartless" on the floor. Just as it was about to make contact with the rug, an arm grabbed at her bicep and she spun to face her new adversary, Keyblade at the ready.

"Ah… you're awake!" she stuttered, looking at the pale and – _frustrated? Why is he frustrated? _– face of the youth she had helped earlier. She glanced nervously at the weapon in her hand, and let her – _his _– weapon lower to her side as her eyes moved back to Riku, and suddenly realized that he was standing. Her eyes flew to his leg with its makeshift bandage and narrowed. "_Nuh-uh_," she said firmly, shaking out of his grasp and reaching for his own arm. She frowned as he shrugged uncomfortably away from her, wincing slightly as the wounds on his back caught on the fine cotton shirt she'd put on him (still the same leather pants, though – she hadn't been game to change them). "See? You're still in pain. Aerith knows way more about healing than I do, but even _I _know that a guy who's just had his back and thigh carved up by probably infected claws needs rest and his wounds cleaned."

Words seemed to roll off him like water, as though he was still wearing the heavy oiled black leather coat. "It can heal without help," he said indifferently. "I've been through pain before. Physical pain is nothing compared to emotional or spiritual suffering."

This time the little ninja flinched. "Emo bitch. I know _all_ about that." She informed him icily in a cracking voice. "You think I _don't _know? Then why am I alone? Why would I just be wandering by myself in a Heartless-infected District? Why–" her voice rose steadily in pitch and volume "–_why _am I even _in _a Hell-hole like Traverse? You've probably heard _all _about this place. Everyone who comes here knows. Only those who have no where – no _one _– to go to come here. It's because they have nothing left. Most of the people in this town would be _glad _to be taken by the Heartless!"

Riku made a small noise, and Yuffie glared at him as though daring him to continue. "Got something to say?" She demanded.

"No. Not at all. Um, please continue."

She went on.

"When I and my friends first came here, we came to help. _Help. _We slew Heartless by the hundreds each week, and used the munny we got form their bodies to provide food for the townspeople. That was all Leon's idea. They thanked us for it. We were their heroes- all the kids wanted to grow up like Leon, and become as kind as Aerith. But now Aerith is back in Hollow Bastion, Cloud wasn't even around when we first started this hopeless war against the Heartless so the townsfolk hardly trust him – would you trust a guy with a black wing who's always covering his face with a cloak if you hadn't known him since you were a kid? – and Leon's gone. There's only me left. And _I can't do it. It's driving me crazy, _knowing there's all this stuff that needs to be done to make everyone happy and realizing that I can't do it on my own. So if you're just here to become a burden to everyone else, you should just haul that pretty – I mean, sorry – little ass of yours back home to your friends." Suddenly thinking she had said too much, Yuffie sized the youth standing – a little lopsided, really – before her. Viciously she poked him in the thigh. With a cry, he crumpled to the ground.

"And he's down! Hmph. What I thought. You shouldn't be standing on that leg yet," Yuffie observed rather maliciously, looking down at the Keyblade wielder. She lifted him with a bit (a lot) of effort on her part and dumped him on the couch he'd been laying on while unconscious, ignoring his groans of pain. _He deserves it all, for making me say all that,_ she thought with a tiny glimmer of black, dark, coffee-coloured humour as she straightened his leg out on the couch. "No, are you going to let me look at it?"

A shake of the head turned into a desperate nod as Yuffie absent-mindedly prodded the ripped flesh again.

"Good. And your back. Can I check it too?"

Another quick nod of confirmation.

"I knew you'd see things from my way of thinking!" the little ninja treated the injured youth to a sunny smile as she hauled herself off the arm of the couch and bounced into the kitchen to call Cloud and collect a basin of warm water. Riku could hear her humming away to "Another One Bites The Dust" by Queen.

_Yah… What is with her mood swings? I don't think I can handle this…yep. I should be able to… but this is kinda different to fighting thousands of Heartless. This looks to me like I'll end up fighting one tiny hyperactive girl with issues and ninja skills… oh, Lordie me. She's coming back. _Riku scrunched his eyes tight shut and tried to pretend he was dozing as the girl skipped back into the room with a basin of water that splashed everywhere.

"Wake up, Riku…"

He was not to know that that singsong tone of voice boded ill for many, and if he had known, he could not have guessed that he was _not_ one of the precious few excluded from the torture that followed the tone.

_Dammit. She isn't just going to let me sleep…_

He faked a drowsy awakening, blinking several times at the cheerful little face above him. "What?" he asked sleepily.

"I know you weren't asleep. I poked you too hard for you to go back to sleep that quickly. It still hurts, right?" she drummed her fingers on his leg, beaming.

_Evil. I think she's evil…_ "Okay. You win. Just clean my back and thigh quickly, and then leave me alone."

"You got it!" She grinned at him momentarily, then frowned and blew a part of her fringe out of the way. "Although, you've forgotten one thing."

"…What?" He asked suspiciously, dreading the answer.

"In order to clean your thigh," the girl pointed out, eyes gleaming with some unidentifiable emotion – stark, raving lunacy and amusement, he suspected personally – "_you_ are going to have to strip."

Riku's already pasty face blanched completely free of all colour, then made an impressive comeback with some of the darkest red Yuffie had ever witnessed on someone's skin.

"Oh, _God help me._" He moaned, fingers spasming.

"Sorry, God's busy." The girl replied sweetly. "I'm here instead. _Deal, you angsty emo bitch._"

Thus, Riku swallowed his pride and a great deal of fear, and wriggled out of those lovely skintight leather pants, and rolled over onto his stomach. Beneath a blanket, of course. But also underneath Yuffie's prying gaze.

The ninja's eyes glittered with satisfaction. "Good." And, wringing the Cloth of Impending Doom of most of its moisture, set to work.

He hadn't counted on her incessant chattering. "So, what's the story behind your Keyblade? I heard only Sora has a Keyblade…" she asked him at one stage.

"It's called the Neutral Keyblade. Not good or evil," Riku managed to gasp out – why did it have to hurt so much? He could feel the hot water burning into the gashes on his back, and no matter what he'd said about physical pain before, it _hurt._

The busy ninja paused for a moment over his back, frowning. "_Neutral? _You mean, like, not good, not bad type thing?"

Riku sneezed before answering. "Yep." _I swear I just said that._

"Oh. Well. Cool…" she resumed her work, and felt Riku flinch as the cloth dipped into the deep wounds on his back again. _I knew it. Now he's gonna be sick as well as injured… why me? 'Cause I'm nice, and a sucker for hot guys. Dammit. _

Riku fainted when she poked his leg a third time, to check whether he was till awake.

Yuffie sighed. "Dammit," she muttered to herself, and continued her work.

* * *

Chicken-boy Riku. That's all I have to say. I prefer the edited and revised and whatnot version, myself. Hope y'all do too. For Annie! (headdesking.) I swear, this Riku-boy makes my heart go all funny. It does flipflops. Like pancakes. 

------Tally xD


	3. Emotions

**----x. _Renegade Hearts_  
Chapter 3: _Emotions

* * *

_**

Yuffie sighed, and rubbed her hands together. _So bloody cold… when will he get here? _She ducked back into the tiny back room – _what back room? _Her mind spazzed for a brief moment, _since when did this house get big enough that there was such thing as a back room? –_ where she'd finally arranged a place for Riku to sleep. "Riku?" She called softly.

The black pile in the centre of the bed – Riku smothered by blankets – didn't twitch a muscle. Yuffie sighed again and wandered back out into her small living room/kitchen to await her friend's coming.

Three minutes later, she got her wish that he would hurry as the door swung open dramatically to reveal a crimson-cloaked, blond-haired Cloud, complete with Buster Blade™ dripping water from the ice that melted on contact with the warm air from the room. "That's my Cloud," she announced to no one in particular, staring off into the air, "imposing, rude, and very, _very _pretty."

He gave her a concerned glance as he stripped off the tattered cloak and hung its damp length on the hook beside the front door. She gave him a tight grin in return, a grin that said '_I'm okay even if you think otherwise._' She squeaked a few moments later as he wrapped his arms around her tiny frame and hugged her fiercely. Somewhere inside, the dam cracked – no, the entire dam wall just collapsed.

"Cloud…" she said, her voice muffled by his clothing. "You can let go now."

He held her a moment longer without saying anything and stood back. "So. What are we doing tonight?"

Yuffie looked up at her best friend hopefully, dark eyes about to spill over. "Talk?"

He hugged her again, but briefly around the shoulders. That emotionless face revealed nothing of what the eyes told.

"Yup. We'll talk." He led the way over to the worn couch in front of the open fireplace, looking around in distaste at the bare surroundings. Yuffie followed him, grabbing two shot glasses and a bottle of brandy. Then she paused for a moment, and grabbed six more shot glasses. Best be prepared.

"Okay." Blue eyes looked at her levelly from under blond spikes. "What are we talking about?" The two squashed into the only couch in the house.

The ebony-haired ninja shifted around, getting comfortable. "First I want to know how Sora's progress is. Is there another Keyblade Master?"

Her friend gazed into the fire for a while, face eerily statue-like even with the dancing flames lighting the contours. "Should I point out that that's not really checking up on Sora's progress? Anyways. There's only Sora that I know of," he said at last. "I know there was another… a while ago, now… who wielded a Dark Keyblade."

"No Neutral Keyblade?" she persisted.

The warrior gave her a sharp look. "What do you mean, a 'Neutral Keyblade'?"

"Um. Nothing…" Yuffie replied evasively. "I just heard it from… the Moogles." _Ah, the_ _Moogles, _she thought_. The great excuse for any gossip overheard._

The sharp look continued.

"All right!' she threw up her hands. "It wasn't really the Moogles… but it was reliable."

"No. Haven't heard of any 'Neutral Keyblade', only Light and Dark." Cloud lounged back, a curious look in place on his fine features.

"Sorry, Cloud. Can't tell ya. I would if I could…"

He patted her knee. "That's okay. You can't just betray someone's trust."

She smiled at him, glad he knew how she felt.

"So, Yuffs. What else did you want to talk about?" Cloud uncrossed his leg and looked at her, carefully not allowing any expression on his face. "Do you want to talk about… him?"

She seemed to ignore him, biting her lip with overbright eyes glistening in the firelight, until suddenly an idea came to her. "I'll be back in a minute." Moments later, her voice came again from the hallway. "Don't worry, either. I'm not going to slit my wrists in the bathtub or anything. I don't even _have _a bathtub, anyways. Only that stingy shower."

"Yuffie –" Cloud broke off as the ninja darted from the room. "Yuffie…" he said quietly, looking after her.

* * *

"Riku…" Yuffie called softly, then more loudly. "Riku!"

The lump on the small bed twitched violently. In a scrabble of sheets, a head of silver hair popped out.

"Good. Riku, get up."

His face blanched. "But –!"

"But what?"

"You stole my freakin' clothes, though!" He shrieked in a most unmanly manner.

Yuffie smirked inside. _I love being able to piss people off. _"I got you a dressing gown, Riku. Now get up before I throw you out there without anything on."

He stared at her in horror, eyes bloodshot and watery, then sneezed. "But…" he said weakly before getting off the bed with the sheet wrapped around him.

She thrust a dressing gown at him. "You wear this. I need to introduce you to someone."

"Why are you doing this to me?" he queried plaintively, clutching the gown.

"I need to see someone else in pain." She told him, hands on hips. _And may he never find out how true that is, _she added silently. _Someone other than myself. Woops, angst lies that way, Yuffie. Tread there, you must not._

He leaned on the door. Yuffie, having no choice, moved out of the doorway and let it close. "You'd better hurry up, or I'll dress you myself!" she shouted through the door.

One minute passed.

And another.

Thus, Yuffie's patience became paper-thin. "You'd better be ready, Riku, 'cause I'm opening this door right now!" Yuffie hissed from the hallway.

Moments later, the door swung open to reveal a flushed Riku in a white dressing gown that went – nearly – to his knees. Yuffie had to stifle a giggle. "Very pretty. So much like a _girl_, with that long hair and pretty eyes. And now a dress?"

"You know, this might actually fit if you grew, say, another foot or three," he remarked, sarcasm dripping from every syllable.

The little ninja spun to face him properly, hands on hips, eyes narrowing dangerously as she rose on tiptoe, her small nose only millimetres away from his chin. "You're not so tall yourself," she hissed icily.

_If I wasn't so pissed off right now I'd be laughing, _Riku thought wearily, trying not to cough as he scowled at the girl. "Oh? Then how do you explain a full twelve inches' difference in our heights as 'small'?"

If possible, her eyes narrowed even further. "You do realise that my position right now is absolutely perfect for headbutting you in the chin, do you not?"

Riku blinked. He hadn't thought of that.

Suddenly, she spun abruptly on her heel and stalked back down the hallway. "My friend has come to visit," she called back over her shoulder. "I want you to come and be nice for a few moments, if it pleases your Royal Arrogant Silver-Haired No-Brained Highness. _Now._"

Riku stared after the departing, fuming figure. Thoughts were whirling about in his head, mostly those doubting his hostess' sanity. Finally he sighed, sneezed violently, sighed again, and stumbled down the hallway after her, trying not to sniff pathetically.

* * *

They entered the kitchen in single file, the young man's long strides catching Yuffie as she walked into the kitchen.

"Cloudy," Yuffie announced brightly, bouncing over to him and squashing her small frame into the tiny couch again. "I'd like you to meet Riku. Once Riku's pulled up a chair – yeah, one of those ones around the table, they'll do – and made hot chocolate for us all – in the _cupboard_, Riku, _honestly_, use your eyes–" she gave the slightly muddled Riku a brief stern look that clearly said _do it now_ "–he'll explain a bit to us why I happened to find him in possession of a weapon he calls the Neutral Keyblade, and in the process explain why he has the Keyblade and what that means for Sora." She finished in a rush and took a deep gulp of air, recovering her breath.

Cloud's sky-blue eyes widened in surprise as he stared at his friend, then at the busy stranger who'd just placed a mug of hot chocolate into his hand – lucky the kettle had, for some mysterious reason, been on just moments before – and back at Yuffie again.

She looked back at him levelly. "What?" she queried, sounding perfectly innocent.

He just shook his head, mouth a perfect 'O' of astonishment.

Riku did as Yuffie had commanded him, and sat at last, facing the man and girl but with his back to the fire. Yuffie noted that curiously, wondering why he didn't want to face the light. She shrugged it off as he spoke.

"So. What's the first question?"

Cloud leaned forward, hands on knees and face strangely shadowed by the dancing flames. "Yuffie said you had a 'Neutral Keyblade'. Can I see it?"

Riku glanced at him coolly. "No."

He hadn't expected that, and sat back. "Why not?"

Riku kept his eyes on Yuffie now. "There's no need for you to see it. Besides, it's just a tool of war. Not something you display at weapon-viewing parties, or whatever you hold."

That miffed Cloud, just a little. He watched the silver-haired guy intently. "We don't treat war that way. We value lives, and people ooh and aah over our weapon-wielding skills- when they're not being used seriously. I mean, at fighting tournaments, everyone cheers for the best fighter – but the winner doesn't need to kill to get to the top. Otherwise, weapons are feared. They can kill."

Riku shrugged. "People die. It's a way of life. Where's the point in caring about something if you don't want it to leave you? It always happens. Who really cares any more?" His tone was cold and pitiless, stating a fact.

Yuffie glared at him, upset and furious "I don't know why we care." She told him, voice steadily rising in volume. "Maybe, it's because we actually want to _enjoy _some momen–"_ Why does he have to remind me? I was managing my emotions really easily _–_ until then_. Her stinging retort was cut off by Cloud, who'd lunged to his feet, angrier than she was. He ignored the hot chocolate from his mug that seeped into the cracks on the cold floor.

"What do you think you're saying?" he yelled at Riku. "If you say one more word to upset Yuffie, I swear I'll thrash you within an inch of the life you don't seem to care about, you selfish arrogant bastard! You don't give a shit for her feelings, do you? You don't _care _about what she's been through, what she's gone through for two whole years!"

There was silence for a bare moment, then: "Oh, wow." Yuffie said lowly, weakly, quietly. "You go, Cloud."

Riku stared at the blond warrior, throat working. He couldn't find any words that seemed acceptable to say. All he felt was sudden guilt – pale in comparison to the anger, but still there – where he'd felt indifference before, and horror that he's said something (it didn't matter that he didn't know what he'd done) to hurt Yuffie, a woman who'd taken him in and cared for him unconditionally, whose spirits were always high, supporting those around her. How could he have hurt her? More to the point, how had he _managed _to hurt her?

"_Get out. Now."_ Cloud forced through gritted teeth, pointing at the door the dark hallway lay beyond. Beside him, Yuffie's small frame bent a little – she was crying, and trying not to show her tears.

Riku left.

* * *

Once the strange youth had disappeared, Cloud sat down next to the silently weeping ninja and hugged her fiercely and long. It was a long while later when her sobs finally subsided a little.

_That discussion ended pretty quickly... _"What did you say his name was again?" he murmured into her hair, holding her close and rocking her small body gently. Something had just come to him.

"Riku." She sniffed, tears flowing again at the reminder of those words. Then she heard her friend's soft gasp of recognition, and looked at him. Her vision was blurry. "What is it?"

He stroked her hair. "Sora's best friend was called Riku. He went – well, he went kind of evil. Like a mini-Sephiroth, if you think about it. Both have silver hair. Both are extremely pretty, in an arrogant-little-shit kind of way. Except Riku turned good again… apparently. And he's not insane. Word is that Riku turned to Maleficent when Sora gained the Keyblade, because she could help him get that power. Of course, his version is that he did it to save their friend Kairi. It's pretty hard to believe right now though; he's been pretty cold."

_Friendless… harsh life. Hohshit. Didn't I tell him when I was fixing him up that he should go back to his friends? Ha, ha. Oops. _Yuffie hiccupped twice. "I guess, if it was to save a friend…" Yuffie spoke hesitantly, under her breath. She glanced up into his worried face again. "But this Keyblade wasn't like the one you described."

"That doesn't change much though, does it?" he reminded her gently.

"I guess not… Cloud?"

"Yeah?"

"I want to go to sleep now. I have a headache." She said plaintively, tucking her head into his chest.

In spite of himself, Cloud chuckled softly. "Sure. You can go to sleep now." He hefted her up in his arms as he rose. "Do you want me to stay the night?"

"No," she yawned. "It's okay. You should go home, and take that brandy with you. I don't want to get drunk and wake up sick tomorrow."

He laughed again, hugged her briefly, and deposited her on her feet in front of the fire. "I guess, until tomorrow then." He called. She nodded and shivered as he flung his cloak over his shoulders and opened the front door, admitting an icy blast of wind. "I'm not drinking it, though. You'll kill me if I do that, someday, when you realise what you've done."

"Bye, Cloud. Thanks."

Cloud nodded at her, and closed the door.

_Gone as quickly as that… just like _him_. I miss him so much. _Tears threatened again, but she held them back bravely, sighing. _I might go talk to Riku before I go to sleep. Won't be much sleep tonight anyway. Not tonight.

* * *

_

He turned his head to look at her as she entered through the doorway, aquamarine orbs glowing. He'd tucked himself back under the blankets again. "Sorry."

The little ninja's throat constricted, and she waited a few moments to disperse the lump in her throat before speaking. "That's okay. You didn't know. Sorry about the dressing gown thing. And, um, the friends thing too." _And I guess it's probably not your fault you're a bastard, either. _"What I was meaning to say, was, why were you there? In the Second District, I mean. At that exact time and place. Why were you even in Traverse Town, for that matter?" _Don't shout at him, Yuffie. Breathe, Yuffie. Good girl. Now, keep your emotions under control._

He sat up at her question, supporting his head on his hand. "Why?" he asked her, eyes glinting.

She shook her head and studied her hands. "I don't know. It just seemed… kind of strange, I guess."

"I meant why were _you _there. At that exact time and place. Why did you leave the warmth of a place like this –" he swung a languid hand at the bare surroundings around them "–to come out in to the night, where it was absolutely freezing, to a Heartless-infected part of this town?"

Yuffie stilled her hands in her lap as she thought seriously about his question. "I don't know," she said at last, cutting through the growing silence. "Just the feeling that I had to be there or something bad would happen. And it nearly did." She added, looking at him directly with her dark eyes. "But who's to say the Heartless would have clawed your back if I hadn't been there to distract you? Or if I'd been there earlier, we could have beaten them without casualties. Or you could have been dead."

The silver-haired Riku mused over this for a while. "I think our meeting was pre-ordained. Call it chance, fate, coincidence, destiny- it was meant to happen. Whoever pulls our strings was going to make this occur one way or another."

Yuffie abruptly shivered and stood, arms wrapped around her chest as if to warm herself. _Fate. Destiny. _"It was meant to happen…" she murmured almost to herself, then blinked twice and looked down at the injured Riku. "Whatever. Sleep well," she said quietly, and left the room.

Aquamarine eyes followed her exit, clouded with worry and puzzlement.

* * *

Hmm. It would appear, looking at the author's notes of the unedited version of this chapter, that it was for Ann's birthday. So. Um. lol? Happy Birthday again, Annie!!

----from Tally (didja guess? Huh? Huh? Didja?)


	4. The Storm Is Over

**----x. _Renegade Hearts_**  
**Chapter 4:_ The Storm Is Over

* * *

_**

She tossed fitfully in her bed, covered only by a white sheet although ice lay waiting just beyond the walls. Her breathing was punctuated by whimpers, and her fingers clenched and relaxed spasmodically.

_She stopped suddenly, unable to explain or fight off the sudden blanket of dread that settled over her shoulders like a cloak of doom._ What is it? _She thought, fear rising up in her chest._

_She stood in front of the First District exit to the second, indecision weighing heavily on her, Fear gnawed at her heart._

…_d a r k n e s s…_

_Heart in her mouth, she shoved one door open and raced through, Her heart was pounding, her small hands sweaty on the shuriken she now gripped, her booted feet moving swiftly._

_She halted suddenly at the wrought iron carving that decorated the top of the mosaic fountain. _There.

_Her heart plummeted, her mouth dried almost instantly. _No…

_A black-garbed figure was fighting for his life in the centre of the market place against thousands of black Shadows._

…_S q u a l l…_

Where did they come from? _He fought on furiously, face totally composed. He didn't care if they had no conscious thought. He would show no weakness, no emotion, to anyone. Especially not his enemies._

…_l o v e…y o u…_

_Whirling to catch three Shadows in mid-air with his weapon, he stopped suddenly, stunned. A young woman watched him from the First District entrance, her white face horrified._

…Y u f f i e…

_A Shadow pounced for his unprotected back. Ripping its long black claws through his cloak, it sought the heart greedily. He fell forward, and the Shadows swarmed._

She woke with streaming eyes as an ear-piercing scream shattered the night's silence. It was her own.

* * *

Always a light sleeper, his hand reached instinctively for a weapon the moment his sleeping mind registered the scream. He came suddenly awake as he realized. _That was her._

The revelation was followed by the sound of soft gasps and sobbing. Ignoring the fact that it was freezing and that he slept only in shorts, he slipped out into the tiny dark hall, to find her.

* * *

She was drawing breath for another scream when a figure stumbled into her room. "Yuffie!" It hissed, worry evident in its voice. Fumbling hands grabbed at her shoulders.

She lost the battle with grief, and launched herself blindly at the other person, sobbing. It was a sound filled with loss and never-ending pain. In his awkward yet comforting embrace, she let the emotions pull her away, tear her apart. The pain, the grief, the loss, the guilt. The anger, the devastation, the denial, the overwhelming sadness.

_The pain._

_Whirling to catch three shadows in mid-air with his weapon, he stopped suddenly, stunned. A young woman watched him from the First District entrance, her white face terrified._

…_no…_

_As she watched him from the First District entrance, her white face horrified, she mouthed one word: Squall._

_No!_

She whimpered like an injured puppy, eyes fluttering open and closed, staring over his shoulder as though she wanted to tear her gaze away from some horrid spectacle only she could see but couldn't. Her fingers, like stiff claws, dug into his bare shoulders, hurting. He gritted his teeth and braced himself, tightened his embrace. _I'm not the one who needs help. She is._

"Riku…" her voice was strained. Her eyes fluttered wide open suddenly, fixed on a spot behind him. _"Squall…"_

She screamed_. "Squall!"_

Her back arched, she screamed and fought against the arms that caged her like a trapped wildcat. Claws reached for his moonlight-marbled face – he leaned away from them swiftly. "Yuffie! What happened?"

_I can't move… I couldn't move!_

She stared at him, face ravaged by sorrow. Her dark eyes were like stormy pools; her hair was like wind-whipped clouds. "He's dead, he died… it's my fault!"

He smoothed her hair back desperately, eyes searching her own for answers. "Who? What happened?"

"_Squall_!" She shrieked again. "The darkness took him from me… I couldn't move, couldn't help him… he loved me!"

Riku gazed helplessly at her, the tiny, tormented body that was in his arms. Then his brow furrowed in determination, and he slapped her cheek – more of a pat, really, but still with enough force to sting. "Stop screaming, Yuffie," he told her calmly and firmly.

She gave a small gasp of shock, biting her lip suddenly as she stared at him. Little whines escaped her, like a small puppy that had just been kicked. Her thin chest heaved with the pressure of holding in her sobs. Her eyes glistened with the many unshed tears, as her face did with the marks of the ones she had already shed.

"I'll let you cry," he told her, "But only if you promise not to make such a big fuss over it."

A tiny agonized wail escaped her compressed lips, and she buried her face in her own shirt, pulling it up so she could wipe her face with the thin plain white cotton. _She doesn't spoil herself, _he thought sardonically as he hugged her tightly. It felt like he could wrap his arms twice around such a tiny figure, except that she seemed so fragile she might break if he did that.

"Riku…" she cried. "Riku – he's _dead _though! _Dead!_" she almost collapsed with the obvious weight of her feelings; he supported her tiny frame with his strong arms, not yet diminished with the lack of exercise following his injury.

"And now that you know it–" he replied, "–what are you going to do about it? You've been telling yourself that for a while now… don't you think it's about time you stopped? Maybe thought about it? That is the past now. If you want to wallow in the past now, that's your business. But there are people who care about you too much to watch you do that." He tightened his embrace as she flinched at his words, resting his chin on her mussed ebony hair.

_Are you one of them…? _She wanted to ask, really wanted to ask, but another, more pressing accusation came out. "And has _this _ever happened to you? Did you ever lose someone so dear to yourself that you thought about them all the time? _Did you?"_ She tried to forget about how harsh that had just sounded, twisting slightly so her tear-streaked face could see his suddenly emotionless one.

The marble face hid a boiling turmoil of thoughts, one that threatened to overtake and wipe out every rational thought in his mind. _Kairi… Sora… _"So what if I have?" He said roughly, almost tempted to push the still distraught ninja away. "Is that any of your business?"

"Tell me." She said quietly- since when that night had she sounded more composed than he had? "Tell me. I've willingly shared my grief with you; now you share with me. Every small scrap of unhappiness at losing a dear one that has made you into what – _who _– you are today. If you don't tell me now, then one day it's going to become too much. You won't be who are you anymore. You'll be soulless. Heartless. Because you'll be bitter, or empty, or both, inside." Her dark eyes, almost black but for the glint the moon gave them, held such conviction that he was taken aback.

The silver-haired youth with the striking aquamarine eyes gave an inaudible sigh that Yuffie wouldn't have noticed if she hadn't been pressed against his diaphragm. "It was a while ago now," he explained quietly. "My best friend – my best _friends _– both left me. One was taken by the Heartless, and the other went to find her. And I haven't seen them since, except for when I had to fight _him._ I never wanted to, but I thought it was the only way I could save them – save _her. _They needed help, and because I didn't give it to them, because I though I could single-handedly rescue them myself, I've lost them. I don't know where they are now. I _want _to know, but I don't." a single tear glittered as brilliantly as his eyes on his cheek for a moment, then it fell onto Yuffie's hand.

Yuffie simply nodded, tears pricking her own eyes. They weren't for she herself anymore; they were for the stranger that she had rescued. Not for the one who had died – but for the one who lived still. She twisted back around so that her back was curved into his chest. "Riku?" she murmured, so softly he barely heard, lost as he was in his own thoughts.

"Hmm?" His eyes were closed now - he hated to cry.

"Let's go to sleep now. The mourning's over. Tomorrow, I want to visit his grave – will you come with me?" she held her breath as she waited for a reply.

He didn't even consider refusing, and answered swiftly. "Sure."

With a tiny smile of gratitude, the tiny ninja girl squeezed his hand for a second and snuggled into the warm body behind her.

The man she rested in the arms of opened his eyes for a second, and wondered if it could always be like this. _Simple mourning, it happens and then it's over, just like that, and then moving on. Could it be like this? To spend time with ones you care about, with no worries...

* * *

_

Wow, fancy that. This was a bit of a Christmas update. But now, it ain't. Easter? That'll do me. Not much modifying in this chapter. There isn't usually with dialogue. Particularly angsty dialogue.

Love to all and Ann.

------Tally.


	5. Visiting the Memory

**----x. _Renegade Hearts_**  
**Chapter 5:_ Visiting the Memory

* * *

_**

"What?" the small girl blinked, cereal box in one hand and toast on a white plate in the other, as she gazed uncertainly at the youth who had just appeared in the kitchen doorway.

He knew it wasn't that she hadn't understood; she simply hadn't heard him clearly. "I said I was going to come with you today. To his grave." He stated again, arms crossed over his bare chest. He watched her carefully.

She simply nodded, ignoring the fact that a very fine piece of meat was before her, and turned back to the bench, grabbing the carton of milk on the bench and pouring it into a waiting bowl. Black bangs, as neat as if she'd never slept, cascaded over her face as she bent to her task, effectively forming a barrier between her emotions and the watcher.

After a few moments of silence she glanced up. "What?" she inquired again, dark eyes void of any excessive emotion.

Riku nearly grinned. "Do you always repeat yourself? I was just wondering if you were going to tell me where the bowls are kept."

She didn't even colour, simply pointed the hand now holding a piece of butter-smothered toast to a small door behind her. "Pantry's just there. They'll be right in front of you." She reapplied herself to her task.

He crossed the tiled floor silently, almost bumping into her as he found a plate and backed out into the only slightly larger area of the kitchen. Only a quick sidestep of Yuffie's prevented a calamity. As it was, she sighed irritably as a few splashes of milk dotted the dark tiles.

"Sorry," he muttered, hurrying out of the way of her business-like steps as she stomped over to a tiny stainless-steel sink and seized a damp cloth. He grabbed the Weet-Bix and shoved six into his bowl, and poured his own helping of milk over the top as Yuffie mopped up the mess, a perfect little frown of concentration on her small face.

She flapped a dismissive hand at him, hunting for more wet patches. "No matter. Just sit down and eat. If you're going to come, I want an early start."

He snorted, ignoring the voice in his head that said _you should be nice, it's her dead boyfriend we're going to visit…_ "And you don't call ten to five an early start?"

She just shook her dark head, and chucked the cloth into a bin – _miniscule, like everything else in this damn kitchen, _Riku noted – secreted in the back of the pantry. Almost aggressively, she grabbed the piece of toast she'd abandoned to clean the floor and bit into it, tearing off a satisfying chunk and chewing.

One silver eyebrow arched in amusement, but he just shook his head and gazed at his now sugar-coated cereal when she glared at him.

"Whatever." Yuffie broke the silence with a flat statement and a dramatic flourish of the arms. "I'm going to go get dressed." She carried her bowl of three Weet-Bix and milk and her extra two pieces of toast with her as she exited.

A pair of angular aquamarine eyes watched over the rim of a bowl as the thin cotton-clad figure left the kitchen, loose white material billowing with every movement she made.

* * *

It was the dark-haired girl's turn to raise an eyebrow as Riku stepped out into the snow-filled street and closed the door behind him. "Sorry I took a while," he offered by way of apology. 

"I wasn't going to say anything like that. What's with all the leather?" she asked, eyes glimmering as she looked him up and down.

He glanced at his garb and shrugged. _Long black cape- very 'in'. Leather pants courtesy of Kadaj in the Coliseum, when I beat Cloud… leather riding gloves a 'present' from Hook that time in Neverland, when we talked… oh. There's leather on my shirt too. And I thought it was just cotton. Eh._ "It looks good, and it's comfortable...?"He told Yuffie timidly. She rolled her eyes.

"Maybe it's a good thing Squall isn't still around to see you. He used to be very possessive of his leather. Wouldn't let anyone else wear it." She gave him a tiny grin and locked the heavy door, then slipped off down the street.

"Well, it's good that it's all black, right?" he hurried to catch up to her, long legs easily covering the distance. His long silver hair was irritating him; the wind kept teasing strands away from his control and dancing them in front of his eyes. With a growl he swiped at them as he awaited Yuffie's response.

The ninja glanced at him, slightly amused. "I guess so. It's not like it's the actual funeral, you know."

He paused a moment, gesturing at her clothes in bafflement. "What about you then? I'd call those clothes pretty dark."

She glanced down at them, then back up at his face. Her eyes were filled with sorrow that wasn't quite concealed. "I wear this all the time," she told him in soft tones.

He struggled to hide pity from his expression – when hers didn't change and she began walking again, he knew he'd succeeded. _You know the last thing she wants is pity, _he berated himself. _If anything, she'd rather pity you. _The thought raised his ire slightly, but it was quickly cooled as he remembered the night before.

**-x-X-x-**

_Yuffie simply nodded, tears pricking her own eyes. They weren't for she herself anymore; they were for the stranger that she had rescued. Not for the one who had died- but for the one who lived still. She twisted back around so that her back was curved into his chest._

**-x-X-x-**

_She hardly cares for herself at all, _he realized, watching her slim figure, disguised with the dark baggy winter clothes, tramp on ahead of him. _She only lets herself have one selfish day a year – the night before he died._

He ran up to her again. "Yuffie–" he began, wondering what to say.

She looked at his face, and her eyes darkened. "What?" she responded stonily, for the third time that morning. The pre-dawn gloom hid nothing, and he wondered what she saw in his features.

"Ah…" the Keyblade wielder cast about desperately for something to say, something that wouldn't offend. "Er… after we visit his grave, let's go get something to eat." _Ack… couldn't have said it worse. No feeling whatsoever. And damn. Now I'm blushing. Why? Why me?_

The suspicion in her face vanished almost immediately, replaced by the smallest of shy smiles. "You mean it?" she gazed up imploringly into his eyes.

He was completely taken aback. _That was so clichéd… and_ _it sounds like I just asked her on a date, and she said yes right away… and wow, not suspicious any more… _he swallowed. "Yeah. We can go… wherever." He waved his arm expansively in the air.

She grinned, suddenly lighting up. "Thanks." The ninja said, grabbing his arm and propelling him forward, not noticing the small flinch that accompanied contact with him. "I really need someone's company today. But come on! We have to get there before dawn – that was his favourite time of day, y'know."

They rushed off down the cobbled street towards the very edges of the Third District, dodging piles of dirty snow. Riku noted that his guide avoided the Second District.

* * *

Yuffie wailed dramatically just as they reached the graveyard. "Ack! I forgot the snacks…" she cried, about to turn back, then realizing that she had to be at the grave before the sun rose. Riku grabbed her shirt as she almost slipped in the mud at their feet, steadying her. 

"I brought some," a quiet voice said from the shadows. There was a hint of compassion in the otherwise emotionless tones – Riku was sure Yuffie wouldn't notice. She was only watching out for pity. He steeled himself as the tone hardened slightly, and Cloud stepped out from the shadows. "And what's he here for?"

"Hey Cloud." Yuffie gave a small wave, her spontaneous side suddenly repressed again – _another memory of the past, _the silver-haired man thought, watching her. "I couldn't leave him alone at my house, could I? And besides, I asked him to come."

A strangled sound escaped the stoic blond, and he turned his piercing blue gaze on Riku. "She seriously asked?"

"_She _most certainly did," the ninja girl retorted, latching onto Riku's hand and pulling him in through the gates. Again, he flinched as his hand closed around his gloved one. "And _she _prefers being called Yuffie, or Sexy, or The Greatest Ninja In The World."

The warrior allowed himself a hidden smile at the sight of the indignant Yuffie hauling a guy a foot taller than her in her wake. It vanished as he remembered that she used to do that with _him _too. "If you say so, Yuffie-The-Greatest-And-Sexiest-Ninja-In-The-World." So he followed, tattered crimson cloak swirling impressively behind him on the wintery zephyrs.

* * *

"There it is." The small white hand emerged from a loose dark sleeve to single out one grey tombstone from the others; it stood alone, isolated, and yet it was curiously unnoticeable. Yuffie, her pale face unreadable, had led them unerringly to the location of Squall Leonhart's grave. 

She sped her pace a little, arriving at the stone moments before her two companions did. Arms crossed about herself, hugging the wind-blown clothes tightly to her suddenly delicate-seeming form, she stood and gazed at the stone, with its epitaph engraved, as deeply etched into the stone surface as Riku, watching, realized the death was etched in her soul. She remained there, motionless and oblivious to everything about her, as Cloud stood behind her for a scant moment then turned and dropped the haversack he'd been carrying to the ground.

Curious, the silver-haired fighter glanced over her shoulder. His eyes flickered over the epitaph, drinking it in like it could somehow give him sustenance.

**_SQUALL LEONHART_  
**_Respected by all, loved by few  
But that love was strong _

_He died at age 28, defending Traverse Town from Heartless _

_He was a good man. He will be missed  
by many. _

Above all the writing, a small simple engraving of an angel watched over the grave. It was an image he found raised unwanted emotions in his hardened soul, and he gazed at it a while longer before Yuffie snapped him out of it by laying an arm on his wrist. It was, as always, an electric shock to the fighter who pointedly avoided physical contact with any living being unless during a battle.

"–has it ready now," she was saying, looking at him.

"Sorry," he mumbling, tearing his eyes from the symbol and focusing on her words. "What was that?"

She scowled, an automatic reflex to being ignored and having to repeat herself. "I _said, _Cloud's set up the food. Did you hear that one?"

…_I suddenly have the insane urge to laugh. At her. What is with her? _He swallowed the chuckling down and followed her to where a few metres away, Cloud had spread a small picnic blanket and watched them impassively, his home-made snacks placed artistically in the center of the mat. Yuffie giggled as she joined the blond, wiry-muscled man, who smiled back at her and placed a chocolate-caramel cake in her hand. It was a gift she received with apparent glee, and Riku smiled at the sudden naivety.

Cloud's demeanour turned frosty when Riku joined them. By now, he'd guessed that it was only the blond being protective, and irritated over yesterday's incident, and simply let it pass instead of getting fired up like he usually would have. The food was really good – not that he told Cloud. _Any words between the two of us will probably spark an argument. And you're not supposed to do stuff like that in a graveyard._

Then he paused mid-chew. _Wait… and eating a picnic in front of a damn tombstone _is _normal?_

The next half-hour passed quickly, with complaints of the cold from Yuffie and stoic silence from her companions. Finally she stopped wishing for the sun to arrive and turned to Cloud instead. "Cloudy... how's Aerith?" she asked, peering up into his face.

There was a small smile playing about his lips as he thought about his reply. Riku, who was never blind to that sort of thing, realised that there was something between Aerith and the man immediately. His ears pricked up, and he scolded himself. _Anything for gossip – to hear how something so normal is going._

"She's well. She called late last night. Said she wanted to be here today, but one of the boys – you remember Denzel, Yuffs? The one who had the biggest crush on you? – Denzel's been sick lately and she needed to keep an eye on him. She's sorry she couldn't make it."

Yuffie smiled and nodded at him. "Next time you talk, say thanks to her from me. Tell her I'm missing her, and I'm going to visit her sometime soon. Oh. And, um, hi to Denzel. Tell him that beautiful as I may be, I'm still too old for him." There was a most ungainly cackle from the girl.

Cloud's fine eyebrows had darted up, and hid immediately under his blond spikes. "Visiting soon? Okay, I'll tell her..." there was a pregnant pause. And this pause was so far gone that it was ready to go into labour. Yuffie smugly sat, not volunteering any more information.

Across from the pair, on the very corner of the picnic rug, the aquamarine-eyed youth straightened suddenly, looking off to the east. Yuffie followed his gaze curiously, and her expression became at once jubilant and melancholy. "Sunrise! The sun's finally up! Well, that fake sun Merlin made, anyway. 'Cause, yeah, you know, Traverse Town being in a perpetual state of darkness and all." Laughing uneasily, she turned quickly to the gravestone beside her, and murmured something that couldn't be heard clearly, although to Riku is sounded like "_And again you aren't here._"

The sun's blood-read rays soaked slowly into the picnic blanket, and spread across the bare earth to the stone, eventually touching it. It illuminated the angel in an eerie way, so that the etching almost seemed alive, and looking serenely down on the earth with still wings. And as the light crept along the ground, creating shadows and highlights, changing the landscape completely and paving the streets of Traverse with crimson shades, Riku watched her. And when the sun had risen fully, illuminating the small group fully, Riku was still watching the lithe girl, with her lips slightly parted and red glints in her ebony hair.

* * *

Eventually, Cloud cleared the rug and packed the leftovers into the canvas haversack they had come from, and left with few words of parting, and no condolences. Watching their farewells, the black-clad fighter knew they didn't need condolences. They both grieved for the dead man, but neither needed to say it. 

He left them alone, standing at the edge of the cemetery. The pair watched him fade into the shadows along the street, as was his wont – _dark and gloomy, and black, and all that, _Yuffie caught herself thinking in a spurt of amusement that was gone as suddenly as it had come – then she turned to Riku.

She spoke quickly, not cutting any corners. "You know, Riku, there's one thing wrong with you."

"What's that…?" He asked slowly, warily.

"You turned evil."

"_What?_" He spun to face her, shocked. If his thoughts had been drifting before, all his attention was now fully on her. "And where did you hear_ that?_"

She narrowed her eyes at him. "It's true, then. You really did."

"Common knowledge, Yuffie. Common knowledge. What I don't know is how you found out."

"Oh, so it's common knowledge, but I wasn't supposed to know? How does that work, I wonder? Well, you didn't tell me, which I think is pretty… mean. You're supposed to tell friends things like that." She crossed her arms and scowled up at him.

"Oh, so _now_ we're _friends_–" Riku couldn't remember the last time he had felt so bombarded, and automatically put the shields up.

"Of _course _we're bloody friends!" Yuffie exploded. "You bastard! I took you in, I looked after you after you got mauled by a whole heap of Shadow Heartless, and I even goddamn asked you to come with me to Squall's grave! And you say in _oh_-such-a-surprised-and-hurt voice, 'Oh, so _now_ we're _friends'_! But the worst thing is, I had to hear something like that from Cloud. Not you, who it was all about – from _Cloud. _You can be sure that it wasn't too flatteringAnd now I don't know what to be more pissed off about – the fact that you turned to the side of evil and fought against Sora, who happens to be a good friend of mine, or the fact that you neglected to tell me about it!" She was working herself up into a rage now, hissing each syllable as though they hurt her throat and she just wanted them out. Her eyes were burning with angry tears.

"And now you don't even ask me why I didn't tell you!" Riku shouted back. "If we're friends, then you should care about the reason and not just the fact!"

Yuffie took a deep breath, stormy eyes flashing at the man before her. "Tell me then." She said abruptly. "Tell me what you didn't have the balls to tell me before."

Riku winced. It hurt when she said it as callously as that. In fact, it just hurt that she was being so crude, so unlike herself. He took a deep breath too, and let it go slowly. "I didn't tell you…" he began, and cleared his throat.

"You're stalling…"

"I _know_, goddamn it, alright?" He burst out. "I didn't tell you because I didn't want you to hate me. Stop, Yuffie – I'm talking now. Even Sora fought against me, when I tried to do everything I could to help Kairi. You can't know how much it hurts, to have your best friend turn against you. I didn't want it to happen again. Even now that I'm not evil, people still shun me, those who know. You didn't. I wanted to keep it that way."

"Damn, you're a fool!" Yuffie yelled, the moment he finished. "Couldn't you tell just now, when I mentioned it? Couldn't you tell that I wasn't disgusted, or shunning you, or scared of you – couldn't you tell? If you'd just _told _me, we wouldn't even be having this fight right now! Don't you get it? _I actually like you!_"

Her dark eyes were both pleading with him and glaring at him, a combination his reeling thoughts found disconcerting. _And attractive,_ the most treacherous and personal part whispered almost indistinctly, with obvious malice.

* * *

Hmm. It would appear that I thanked a lot of people… wow. XD. Um… thanks again? For Ann, as per usual. I'm thinking of writing a small thing where Yuffie does, indeed, remove Riku's pants. I think Ann should like that muchly. Dang, but every time I read back on this, no matter how much I cringe, I'm still glad I wrote it. 

----Tally. -liekomgzduh.-


	6. Idiot

**_Renegade Hearts_**  
**Chapter 6:_ Idiot

* * *

_**

_I'm a fool… and she's right. _Riku told himself with an ironic sigh. _I know she's right. Yuffie doesn't change that quickly._

_Give her a while to get to know you, though… _that treacherous part whispered again, this time even nastier than before.

He ignored the little, frankly creepy, black voice and smiled hesitantly at the ninja, now that the storm appeared to be over. "What did you want to eat?" he asked Yuffie, allowing the tiniest bit of contentedness and fondness creep into his voice.

Her cheeks tinged pink at his tone, and she pretended to think for a moment before replying. "Tacos. I want to eat tacos."

Riku couldn't help it. He laughed, as he'd been wanting to laugh for the past couple of hours at her comments. "Tacos, eh? Where can you buy them?"

She pursed her red lips primly, a mischievous glimmer in her dark eyes. "Firstly, where can _you _buy them – I don't recall there being anything in this agreement about me paying – and secondly, we have to go into the First District. The Hotel has some, but the woman-manager-person-thing holds back on the cheese, and I need cholesterol."

He chuckled again, earning an odd look from the petite girl who never put on any weight. "Tacos it is, then."

She smiled, turning away, face bathed in reddish light. "My saviour."

She didn't notice his eyes darken at that comment, nor hear the typically depressing thought that followed. _I can't save anyone. _But she did notice when he grabbed her hand for the first time, voluntarily, and pulled her startled form along behind him, cloaks flapping in the wind.

* * *

"Delish," the small girl muttered distractedly an hour later, wiping her lips daintily with a navy blue serviette before attacking her overloaded burrito again. "Just… yum."

A bemused silver-haired youth watched her tear into the food viciously. "Y'know…" he began.

"Mmm?"

"You got over my whole I-was-evil issue pretty quickly."

"And?" she raised one slim dark eyebrow at him, chewing on a particularly large mouthful of tomato and mince.

"Uh… that. You got over it quick."

"Riku, that was bad grammar," she chided him. "It would have been better to say 'fast' instead of 'quick' in that instance–"

He snorted.

"You have something to say?" The other eyebrow went up.

Riku shook his head vehemently.

"No… good. Anyway. As I was saying. Why shouldn't I get over it quickly? It's not like I really distrust you or anything. I told you earlier I was going to be your friend."

He crossed his arms, fighting down a sullen feeling. "My friend?"

"Well, I sure as hell ain't your enemy, Riku!" she tsked in exasperation.

"I _know_ that!" the warrior snapped back.

"Ah, Earth to Riku! I don't think you did!"

_Zoolander. _Riku headdesked in frustration. "I loathe that part of the movie, Yuffie," he informed her in a muffled voice. _Pshaw. Arguing... don't think it don't think it – damn mind. Arguing like a married couple. But just a friend..._

Curious dark eyes met his gaze as he looked up through his silver fringe. "You're thinking..." she said softly. "You okay?"

"Yeah." He looked down again. _How does she do it? Go from argumentative to playful, to deep-and-meaningful... it's too confusing. And how did she realise that I wasn't just pissed off, or something like that?_

He glanced up again, and Yuffie smiled a little. "You can be predictable sometimes, Riku," she told him clearly, almost as though she had read his thoughts. He stared at her with his piercing aquamarine eyes, silver brows knitted in thought, until she looked away nervously and coughed slightly, breaking the silence that stretched between them.

* * *

It was cold as the two hurried back to Yuffie's small house, Yuffie grabbing her mail on the way up the step. Riku contrived to remark as the entered the house after a brief tussle between the ninja and her rusty lock that she needed a larger house, to which she replied sharply that it was 'just fine for her, and she'd thank him not to mention it again.'

He snickered quietly and decided the place was Yuffie-sized, after all, as he hung up his black cloak beside her shorter one on the cramped brass hooks inside the door. "You really should expand a couple of feet in each direction, at least," he informed her, wincing as his broad shoulders hit a couple of hat-hooks and a hanging photograph – a brunette pink-clad woman with a straw-haired man chewing on a toothpick, and even Cloud, with two small children – in his little attempt to manoeuvre around Yuffie in the tiny hall without bowling her over. "Or not you. Your house, I mean."

He received a non-committal grunt in response.

"Talkative, eh?"

She elbowed him in the ribs, suddenly in a grouchy mood as she went through the mail. He peered over her shoulder as she turned away, white envelopes in her hands.

"What is it?" He asked, suddenly concerned.

"It's nothing." She replied shortly, a sour undertone barely hidden in her words. "Just some bills." A small pale hand stuffed the paper into her pocket before he could read them properly.

He shook his head and led the way into her kitchenette, head bowed a little. _That's all she ever does, hide her troubles and deal with them her own way- but I don't really know. I haven't exactly known her all my life._

"Want some tea?" Yuffie called over her shoulder, brushing past him and flicking the switch on the kettle, and leaving her hands rest on the metal as it heated slowly.

He shook his head, then realised that she was facing away from him, and said: "No thanks. Hot chocolate with a lot of sugar."

Yuffie gave the silver-haired man a quizzical look and got two mugs from the pantry, and a bag of marshmallows, basin of sugar and some powdered hot chocolate from beneath the bench on which the steaming kettle rested.

"What did I do?" His tone was mildly injured.

"Nothing."

There was a barely concealed smirk in her voice – it wasn't just nothing, he decided, stripping the black cotton (and leather) overshirt off and tossing it onto the couch, then thinking better of his move as Yuffie glared at him, and retrieving the garment to nurse in his arms. He sneezed suddenly.

"Still sick? Hot chocolate cures all," the bouncy little ninja proclaimed grandly, balancing two frothy mugs in one hand and scribing a flourish in the air with the other. "Even sneezes – what're you allergic to? Too bad if it's leather..." she snickered.

He glared daggers which were more the size of veritable swords in this case, but simply waved an arm and deftly snatched a mug from her, nearly yelping as his fingers burnt on the hot china. "It's _hot_–"

"Boiling liquid generally is."

He sensibly ignored her. "And I don't know of anything that I'm allergic to." He sniffed the air curiously, and was rewarded with another sneeze. "You don't think it's just carrying on from my recent brush with death?"

Watching, Yuffie snorted, nearly spilling the hot chocolate. "Your 'recent brush with death' wasn't as serious as you put it. And yes, you _should _still be sick, a little, just like that leg of yours should still be hurting. Don't think I didn't notice you limping all the way, Riku." She narrowed her eyes at him over the hot mug. "Wha... what's up? Riku, you're trembling–"

She reached over, standing on tiptoe, and managed to lay her hand on Riku's forehead a split second before he knocked it away. When he spoke, his tone was harsh. "I don't need your help." He told her, turning away.

Yuffie's eyes darkened, as he had predicted but didn't care. "Why don't you? Is it because you think you can cure anything that happens to you? Oh, and since we're on the topic of 'why you should refuse honest help,' why not tell me why you were so frustrated that first time I dragged you back here? Eh? When you answer that, then you're absolutely free to tell me your opinion on the world, and why I shouldn't try and help you now!" She was glaring at him now, mechanically taking sips of hot chocolate.

_Ouch... I seem to be good at making her angry. _He winced. "Uh... I was frustrated because I didn't believe I needed help."

It was the wrong thing to say. The dark-haired girl placed her mug carefully on the bench beside her and wiped her hands slowly, then turned to face him fully. Storm clouds flitted across her face; lightning seemed to spark from her. "_You didn't need help._" She mimicked. "_Bull shit._ Unless you count a ripped leg and gashes on your back as being in tiptop condition, and you were _sure _that you could handle hordes of Shadows just fine and dandy." Her tone was mocking now, hollow and hoarse. "Otherwise, I'd have to say that you fucking _needed _my assistance. And that's your excuse for acting like a bastard? That you didn't believe you needed my help? I don't believe you." She was shaking her head now, dark hair wild around her face. Anger was present in every muscle of her slim body. "Fuck you, Riku – Riku – oh, I don't even care what the hell your last name is right now!"

But Riku was done caring about what she thought on the issue. "Are you really so naïve in that pretty little head of yours as to believe that I'm going to tell you everything?" He asked incredulously, wondering why she was getting so angry over this. "Did your precious Squall Leonhart do the same thing or something?"

She gasped, an indrawn hiss of air. "You're going too far, you jerk–"

"I don't care!" Riku slammed his fist against the wall, feeling pain lance through his fingers and wrist and ignoring it stoically, warm with anger. "God, I don't even know why I'm here. Compared to you, I have a purpose. But I guess that's why you're living in the 'City of Lost Souls', right? I wouldn't want to: it doesn't exactly have a homey ring to it," he laughed as nastily as he could contrive to.

Yuffie flushed crimson with fury. "You _dare_." She hissed, almost inaudible. "You dare say that after I took you in, looked after your injuries, and even fucking fed you!" Her voice steadily rose in volume; her thin chest heaved.

"Ooh, I hurt you," he said nastily in a fake concerned tone, taking a step towards her. "Would you like a kiss to make it all better?"

She blanched and for a moment she thought she was going to hit him, and felt sudden guilt. "Is that what you think will solve all the problems of the world?" She asked him, narrowed eyes flaming. "Do you really think so? Fine." She shoved him against the wall and tangled her fingers in his black shirt, then kissed him fiercely on the mouth, hurting his tender lips as she pressed against his teeth. A second later, she pulled back, before he could even comprehend what she had done. "And what did that do, huh?" She demanded. "Did that make everything better? I doubt it did. Now get out of my sight. We're done talking."

She stalked out of the kitchen, a small child at that moment having a tantrum, and he sagged.

The hot chocolate was forgotten.

* * *

**Tally. SilverAuthoress. _Rikku_. AngelKairi.**

Oh look! Phwee! I wrote this on my birthday! And it's the first time in this fic I used that signature I've become so accustomed to! Even though I've swapped yet again now… ahh, the dreaded headdesk. And the yuriku. Much fun, no?

For Annie-pooh. Duh.

----love from Tally.


	7. Conflict

**_Renegade Hearts_**  
**Chapter Seven:_ Conflict

* * *

_**

He scowled. He was thinking about the damned Heartless again. And not even worth a decent fight – they were Shadows. _Didn't stop _him _getting killed by one, did it? Didn't stop _me _from nearly copping the same. _

A loud sigh. The world was too ironic. That he would be living with a girl whose lover had been killed by the weakest kind of Heartless; that he would nearly end up the same way, even if he hadn't known it at the time.

Eyes watched him from the shadows, but he didn't notice them; they faded away as swiftly as they rose, following, ever following.

The cobbles, as every time, made no sound as his soft boots trod upon them. Only the soft yellow lamps throughout the town illuminated the place; otherwise it was dark. _Always so dark in this accursed town... everything in the forsaken place is dark. The people, mere shadows of their former selves... the Heartless, on the other hand, are thriving. Darkness is drawn to despair._

He remembered, then, almost shamed and a little afraid, the time he had turned to darkness. _And despair is drawn to darkness; it's a never-ending cycle, and a vicious one. _Melancholy thoughts... _Wait on. This sounds a little like Star Wars all of a sudden. Snap out of it, you idiot!_

His thigh was paining him. He tried to ignore its aching stiffness, walking as naturally as he could, past the various shops in Traverse Town's Second District; they were closed for the night, an early Saturday closing time so the workers in each store could spend some quality time with their families. It wasn't as though there were ever many customers around anyway, in a town like this where most people withdrew into themselves. It was funny, he reflected, glancing at and away from his double in the glass windows, an irritating movement to the right of him, how he knew all this already and had only been in Traverse for a short while. It showed, he thought, how everything in this town was the same; shallow, small things were universal, and the deeper meanings of everything else was hidden under layers of mundane, unimportant details, so that no one would think of sifting through it all to get to the truths that really mattered.

He noticed as he turned into an alleyway that ran beneath the balconies of the Hotel and alongside the Waterway that his back between the shoulder blades ached too, and resolved to be sure he didn't waste time and make this evening too strenuous for the still-healing wounds. It was peaceful behind the main area of the District. Idle thoughts somehow led him to the realisation that since that first night that seemed so long ago now, he'd never felt _pulled _to something, not drawn to go somewhere like he'd been drawn – to the place where he had met Yuffie. _And now it's time to wrench my thoughts away from _that _particular trail... _he turned yet again, exiting the quiet little alleyway into the main cobbled market place.

"Ah. Well, _finally._" Was the silver-haired youth's impatient mutter at the sight of a slight disturbance in the brown-grey cobbles before him. Several dark shapes rose, and moved towards him in a jerky kind of way. He slowly reached over his back for the black iron hilt of his Neutral Keyblade, running his slim fingers briefly over the small heart insignia of grey and white, and heaved it over his shoulder then forward again in a downward slash as the first of his shadowy foes reached him. It disappeared with a distressed spasm, a cloud of dark over the ground that dissipated quickly as its fellows moved through the particles.

They were more eager than usual to die, he mused mirthlessly, throwing the Keyblade forward in an arc and decimating five Shadows all in a line before catching the whirling weapon to slice each side to take off two little black antennae each. Cutting methodically through disorganised ranks of Shadows, he aimed for a milling crowd of Invisibles hovering around the edges of the fray. An uppercut with his deadly Keyblade dispatched two more Shadows. Moments later, a third heart joined theirs on their journey to the heavens. He cut deeper into their ranks in a widening strip – he wasn't going to let the little buggers sink their claws into his back again.

A twang in his shoulder made him gasp for composure, and he nearly didn't block the desperate twirling lunge of a Soldier. Grunting, Riku kicked the Heartless solidly in the stomach with one black boot, forcing it backwards and giving himself time to recover. _Gah... I should have waited before trying to do this...but then, Yuffie's furious _now, _and one of the points of this is to make sure she's not too mad at me when I get home... _He cut a path of devastation through a whole throng of Shadows just rising from their haven of darkness, and a lightning swift strike horizontally across the front ofhis body got him a lucky slash across the neck of an Invisible. A ridiculous image of a cheering Moogle flashed in his adrenaline-charged mind, and he shook the image and stray strands of silver hair out of his way before attacking the Invisibles in force.

A few moments later, proof came that he was not as fully recovered from _any _of his recent afflictions as he had hoped as he sneezed violently and swung hard at what he thought was an Invisible, recoiling from the shock in his arm that said that he'd just managed to block the sword of one of the powerful purple-black Heartless. _Still sick? So not fair..._

One by one, the tall Heartless were felled by powerful, generally skilful swings of his Keyblade. He'd spent the tormented hours of last night sharpening each black iron tendril along the blade to a keen fine edge; the time-consuming work had failed to take his mind off pressing issues but he'd pursued it doggedly anyway, trying to fool himself into believing that it really did work, and that what had happened earlier wasn't as important as he'd made himself believe. _I'm such a fool... _the fighting was doing a better job of removing those thoughts than the preparation had ever done; adrenaline coursed through his veins and let him be as recklessly stupid and tough in battle as he wished he could always be.

He suddenly found himself facing the almost-vanished body of a Defender Heartless; about them was silence. It was unnerving- only a few moments ago he'd felt surrounded by energy and bodies, now there was nothing but him, a slight mist, and a lifeless District. A few yellow balls of munny remained that he had not collected during his dance of death – he now picked those up from around the square, grinning when he found some even as far as the steps. He'd had fun.

Wearied and yet strangely exhilarated after his refreshing battle with those he considered evil, he found a path amongst the melted snow littering the ground – the impromptu battleground had been clear of the muddy stuff – and started for home. Yuffie's home, at least, or even just Yuffie's house – she certainly didn't appear to have any attachment to the place. Again, his thoughts went back to the petite dark-haired girl he'd been living with lately. A memory of the quiet blond Cloud rose; the warrior's face was contorted in rage.

"_What do you think you're saying?" He yelled at Riku. "If you say one more word to upset Yuffie, I swear I'll thrash you within an inch of the life you don't seem to care about, you selfish arrogant bastard! You don't give a shit for her feelings, do you? You don't care about what she's been through, what she's gone through for two whole years!"_

He winced in remembrance of that time; he'd almost never felt so guilt-ridden as then, particularly thinking back on it without the haze of anger that had been upon him then. The only other time had been when he'd gone to the dark side, believing that the destruction of the Destiny Islands had been all his fault; a selfish wish for power and excitement to visit the mundane place of his childhood. A selfish desire to possess the power _himself. _Hmph. Look where that had got him; in the city of lost souls. _This fails._

"But maybe, when I get back, she won't be angry with me... I don't even get why she wanted to fight yesterday. Why?" He asked the midnight air. "I just don't get her." A sigh was made visible by the chill of the night. Grimacing at cold fingers – they were beginning to get stiff after the battle – he pulled off both black leather gloves and massaged them together, his Keyblade slung over his back again. He stepped into the First District and headed for the tiny house, tucked away in a nondescript corner of the District; he barely noticed that all his wounds were beginning to stiffen up again, and he was getting a headache. _What's she going to say to me?

* * *

_

There was no response from the silent house when he walked into the hall. The fire ahead was burning low, so he quietly built it up again, adding three logs and draping his cloak and gloves over a kitchen chair. He heard no noise from Yuffie and assumed she must already be in bed, although she seemed to be the type to stay up; it was only eleven p.m.

Quiet down the hall and past his bedroom too; Riku decided to check on his carer before turning in for the night. There was the gentle flicker of candlelight from beneath he partially closed door and he pushed it open carefully, peering in. What he saw made him stand stock still, amazed and – something else, that he couldn't quite describe.

In front of a small antique mirror and desk, Yuffie had her hands behind her neck. The soft light of the tiny candle flame bathed her features in warmth, removing any negative emotion. Her short ebony hair was pushed back behind her ears and she was just fixing the clasp of an old amethyst and silver necklace behind her white neck; twin purple lights danced at her earlobes, matching the little fire at the base of her throat.

Riku's emotions were completely haywire at this new side of Yuffie. He'd never realised that she might like something as simple as jewellery, or that she might be the type to just put it on for fun and be a different person when no one else was around. She mouthed a word into her mirror; he read her reflected lips and saw that she had said "Squall." _He must have given the necklace to her... _For some reason, the word made his throat constrict, and he swallowed to rid himself of the feeling.

The girl spun, amethysts flashing and glinting in the candlelight; her dark eyes narrowed at the sight of her tenant standing in the doorway. _"Get out." _Yuffie's voice was icy; her dark eyes smouldered.

His gentle mood dissipated even as hers had done. "Make me." _Two can play at this game, _Riku thought with a concealed smirk as he leaned back against the door frame noncholantly, his face carefully composed.

The tiny ninja was moving in a flash, and swung hard for his right cheek. Only the tough training brutal physical rigours he'd pushed his body through enabled him to catch her wrist before the blow landed. In an instant he'd twisted her left arm up painfully against her back, keeping his body against hers and a firm hand on her shoulder to keep the lock in place; his warm fingers brushed the bare skin of her neck, careful of the delicate chain.

Yuffie's breath caught at the tinges of pain that shot through her shoulder each time her captor shifted, and she strained to hold herself up on tiptoe to make it harder for the silver-haired youth to keep her in that position.

They froze in that stance for a long moment, neither willing to say anything first. Yuffie's dark head nestled just in under Riku's chin – _"You do realise that my position right now is absolutely perfect for headbutting you in the chin, do you not?"_ – he remembered suddenly, from an earlier bickering session. Although he didn't admit it, Riku was feeling the strain from his earlier battle and old wounds, and didn't want to keep it up too long.

Just as she was about to speak, she felt him shift position. A warm breath of air ghosted along her neck as his lips brushed her ear and he whispered, "I don't like people trying to make me do things." He held the lock a moment more, then released it and stalked away.

At the doorway, he stopped and looked back. The small ninja had raised one hand to the ear he'd whispered into, and was looking at him. Her big dark eyes were filled with unreadable emotions; the only one he could decipher was curiosity. The candlelight still illuminated her features; it turned the amethyst into velvet gems.

_Don't worry,_ he tried to tell her, with his gaze locked on hers and with his thoughts; _you're a mystery to me, too._ He left.

Yuffie stared at the place where he'd been standing a moment before, lost in a world of dreams and thoughts. Her lip was trembling.

* * *

_Traverse Town was in the middle of a large storm. Sheets of rain lashed again and again at the town; no sane person would be out in the downpour._

_Nevertheless, a whirr of a shuriken above his head alerted him to the fact that he was not alone; brunet strands whipped about his eyes as he rose quickly, the storm drenching his plain white tee to his skin. "Yuffie." He said simply._

_A giggle sounded. "Did I scare ya, Squallie?"_

_"It's Leon." He sighed. "And no, it didn't scare me."_

_"Hey, Squall, can I ask you something?" The girl popped into view, jumping easily from a roof to the bell platform and bending to pick up the shuriken._

_"Only if you stop calling me Squall."_

_"Mmm… why are you always out here when a storm starts up? A squall, if you will, Leon."_

_He grimaced at her pun in distaste. "Very clever."_

_She glanced at him as he made to sit down again – he apparently didn't care if those nice leather pants were ruined by the water, or maybe it was just that they were waterproof already? – and plomped herself down beside him, gangly legs dangling over the edge. "You didn't answer my question."_

_"…"_

_"Don't say it!" The girl dramatically clapped her hands over her ears, grimacing when it caused droplets of rain to fly into her eyes._

_"…Don't say what?" His tone was neutral._

_"Don't say 'whatever'. You always do it, Squall!"_

_"…You're not getting your answer now."_

_"Leon! I meant 'Leeeeon'!"_

_He nearly smiled at her sudden despair, but kept himself in check. "Fine." He conceded. Yuffie squealed with glee. "It's just because I always did it back home."_

_Dark eyes blinked. "Back at Radiant Garden?"_

_"Hnn. With one of my friends. We fought a lot, but we both liked the rain."_

_"Who was it?"_

_He fought the urge to curl his lip at her incessant questions. "His name was Seifer." He said shortly._

_The girl's mouth was hanging open. "Not Cloud?" She said at last._

_"No. We didn't really hang out in those days."_

_Yuffie was silent for a moment, busy little mind processing the information he had given her. "So, who did you hang out with then?"_

_Leon bit back the annoyance. "I just told you. Seifer."_

_"Not just him. There had to be others, right? Who were they? What were they like?"_

_He sighed, staring out – one could barely see the cobblestones below, the rain was so thick and fast._

_"Leon–"_

_"I'm answering, okay? There was Zell. He was pretty okay. Too young, too bubbly, too bouncy, too cocky, but he was still okay. And Irvine. Irvine was okay. Always flirting with Rinoa–"_

_"Rinoa?"_

_"I was getting to that."_

_"Oh. Okay."_

_"…Well, yeah. Rinoa. She always said I was prettier than she was –"_

_Yuffie struggled to hold her tongue, wanting so desperately to tell him it was true; he was prettier than any other girl she'd met._

_"–and she was really nice. Sweet, funny sometimes, quiet but loud at the weirdest times…"_

_Yuffie's jaw nearly hit the ground. "Squall, you're smiling."_

_"What? No, I'm not!"_

_"You are, you are! Some pretty girl's making you smile!"_

_Leon huffed, completely forgetting about the misuse of his name. He crossed his arms and ignored the little girl – monkey, he thought irritably, she's actually a monkey disguised as a human – sitting beside him until she fell silent._

_The rain abated a little._

_"Hey, Leon?" Yuffie eventually asked, hesitantly._

_"…"_

_"Are we friends?"_

_"…Yeah."_

_"Okay. Good."_

_More silence. Except for the storm, of course. And Yuffie's humming. One could never forget the humming that always started up at the strangest times._

_"Hey, Leon?"_

_"…What?"_

_"Do you like me?"_

_He sighed in exasperation. Young teenage girls were so much difficulty to handle. "Of course we are, Yuffie. Didn't I just say we were friends?"_

_"Oh."_

_Once again, there was more silence, and when a small body attached itself to his arm, Squall found himself smiling, just slightly._

_"…Hey, Squall?"_

_"What?"_

_"You're really pretty, like that Rinoa girl said. Have you ever read 'Loveless'?"_

"What?!"

* * *

Confrontations galore, indeed. Poor, poor Riku. I think this one needs a name change… so I'll call it 'Conflict' or something, methinks. Again, edited, and hopefully longer than it was, because this was one piddly little chapter. Indeed, this chapter is now completely different; the original content is still there, but I thought I'd add some stuff on the end. Hope it's liked. Ahm, yes, indeed. That last part is a flashback. A random memory of where the relationship between Squall and Yuffie really started; when he started accepting her. And Squall knows about Loveless. Yuffie's got the collection in her room, how could he not? This one's much better than the last, if I do say so myself.

Annie, do I even need to say it? For you. I heart you.

--------------------------------------------**Tally** gets an even longer line of dashes before her name this time.


	8. Now I Only Waste Time Dreaming Of You

**_Renegade Hearts  
_Chapter 8: _Now I Only Waste Time Dreaming Of You

* * *

_**

_"Ooh, I hurt you," he said nastily in a fake concerned tone, taking a step towards her. "Would you like a kiss to make it all better?" _

_She blanched, and for a moment he thought she was going to hit him, and felt sudden guilt. "Is that what you think will solve all the problems of the world?" She asked him, narrowed eyes flaming. "Do you really think so? Fine." She shoved him against the wall and tangled her fingers in his black shirt, then kissed him fiercely on the mouth, hurting his tender lips as she pressed against his teeth. A second later, she pulled back, before he could even comprehend what she had done…

* * *

_

The 'day after' was a quiet one. Apart from one occasionally deliberately testing the other's patience – Riku standing between the fireplace and where a silently fuming Yuffie sat as though she wasn't there, for example, or Yuffie 'absently' aiming her shuriken just above Riku's head during a vicious little training session in which they kept out of each other's way for the most part – it was, by and large, each steadfastly ignoring the other.

…_She shoved him against the wall and tangled her fingers in his black shirt, then kissed him fiercely on the mouth, hurting his tender lips as she pressed against his teeth… _

But sitting there in the kitchen, awake enough after one exchange of pleasantries with his oh-so-gracious hostess, he watched her unobtrusively, over the mug of steaming hot chocolate that she'd dumped in front of him – she'd never let anyone touch her supplies, at least the ones needed to make hot chocolate. Except that one time, when Cloud had visited, and she had viciously forced him to make some. And he didn't even feel like provoking her. Strange - after a battle with anyone, he always felt that the worst had been brought out in him for the next week or so.

Eyes curiously dull but with fire in her voice, she announced almost defiantly that she was going back to her room for some quality time with her books. She came to life only when she emptied the bottle of milk, upending it then hurling it into the bin with an oath.

It sparked an idea in Riku's clever mind.

This idea was why, seventeen minutes later and fifteen degrees colder, he was standing before a store that read

"**Traverse General Store  
-For All Your Needs!" **

And he was nervous.

Riku had never shopped before. Not on the Islands, even with Kairi nagging him, day in, day out, to take her shopping – he'd always managed to foist that task off on a more-than-willing Sora.

Who'd have thought that simple grocery shopping could be so daunting for the bane of all evil-Heartless-type-things?

_She'd better appreciate this… _he scowled, took a deep breath and plunged in.

* * *

Well. Maybe, a little easier than he expected.

The shelves were all neatly arrayed, at least, and he easily sidestepped the stack of cans (corn, with, he noticed with a quizzical raised eyebrow, one lone tin of beetroot) piled up in a decorative way.

What killed him the most, figuratively speaking, of course, was all the _people._

_How could anyone want to congregate in a place like this? _He asked himself silently, cringing inwardly as he ducked the gaze of several teenage girls and followed a woman with a pram for a couple of metres, then peering around, first at the list in his hand of all the half-or-more-empty containers he'd discovered in the pantry and fridge when Yuffie had wandered off to sulk in her room. Sulk wasn't really the way he'd put it, especially with her within thinking range, but he was still kind of irritated with her, too...

"Can I help you?"

_"Aarrgh!"_

Large green eyes peered up at him, slightly baffled. "Uh... sorry, I didn't mean to scare you-"

"Who says I'm scared?" Riku snarled, attempting to regain his composure without much success, and brushing down his long black coat. Her bright eyes followed his hand in a compulsive sort of way, and he stopped hurriedly, feeling unnerved by this strange girl. "You just..."

"Scared you." She announced brightly, as though it was the most normal and abirritating thing in the world. She started bouncing, drawing attention without even meaning to (that was how it seemed, anyway) to her chest, where the white name tag that impersonally named her as "SELPHIE" jiggled up and down with her, ah, _other _attributes. "How do you do? I'm Selphie! I work in the candy section!" She gestured proudly to the shelves around her nearly overflowing with chocolate and other sugar-laden products.

"Uh... this isn't really the best place for you to be, is it?"

He was a little taken aback at the speed with which she nodded her head, much like a bobble dog. "Of course it is! I love it here!" Her brown hair bobbed bobbily. "Selphie loves candy!"

_Oh god... _"Well, Selphie," he said carefully, edging away so as not to startle her, "I have to be going. To, uh, the meat section."

Her crestfallen face almost made him laugh, but he held it back. "But I like talking to strangers!" She wailed plaintively, hands behind her back. "And I can't leave this section!"

_And believe me, that's the best way for it to be…_

He ran, black leather flapping around him, and was relieved when nothing more hyperactive came his way. _Milk... milk first, _he thought firmly, trying to forget the harrowing incident as soon as possible. _Yuffie'd be laughing her ass off right now if she were here._

_...tangled her fingers in his black shirt, then kissed him fiercely on the mouth, hurting his tender lips as she pressed against his teeth..._

_And again with the damn thoughts about Yuffie! Get out of my head! _He scowled, yanking a bottle of milk from the cold shelf before him angrily an nearly breaking it, then glancing around guiltily to make sure no one witnessed what his dark-haired caretaker would probably have described as 'bottle abuse'... _Not again, dammit!_

Narrowing aquamarine eyes at the reflection before him in the glass, he brushed his fringe out of the way irritably. It fell back across his face. "Guh. I am hated by the world." He muttered, attempting to brush it away again, and trying to ignore the thought that even hair was a welcome distraction from Yuffie...

Something bumped into his side, and he glanced up, fully prepared and ready to mouth profanities at the offending elbow.

It was Cloud; he hurriedly bit the words back, knowing it wouldn't be good to get further on the wrong side of the blond swordsman than he already unwittingly had. "Uh… Hi?" He ventured.

"Hi." The man looked emotionlessly down on him, and somehow it made the silver-haired youth feel better. He'd dealt with too much emotion lately; it was good to get away from it, distance himself like he needed to. If he just imitated the man now, act impersonal and as though he wasn't really there, wasn't feeling anything...

Cloud nodded once, a considering look on his face, and Riku started, then narrowed his eyes suspiciously. It was as though the man had read his thoughts... "Are you shopping too?" He asked, more to stop thinking those thoughts that frustrated him so.

Another single jerk of the head. This guy was like a _broken _bobble dog. "Why are you here?" The blond asked him directly.

Riku laughed, more to cover his unease. "Well, Yuffie's pissed at me again–"

"Like always, you mean..."

"Whatever. But yeah. She's angry again. So I thought, getting out of her way and the house would be a good idea. Then I thought, 'Hey, Yuffie'd be happy if I brought back groceries that I paid for with my own munny!' and… well. Here I am." He shifted uncomfortably.

One fine blond eyebrow twitched. Just – _twitched._ "That... that's what you think?"

_What's wrong with it? _"Yeah. 'Cause a not-happy Yuffie is a not-nice Yuffie. And a scary one, too."

"...You are so naïve."

Aquamarine eyes blinked. That had been an unexpected response. "Why?"

"Because," the blue-eyed warrior began, "Yuffie's not like that. You can't make her happy with things like that. She'll think you're trying to buy her."

"You're _kidding." _He said incredulously. "So it was a bad idea?"

Cloud had the faintest of smirks in place, muscled arms crossed. "Yeah. But she'll act happy..."

_If she acts happy, then I'm happy. It's better than her yelling at me, or confusing me with her 'I-HATE-YOU-SO-DEAL' logic... _"Uh... Cloud?" He inquired tentatively.

The blond eyebrow raised again. Riku was getting used to that.

"If she acts happy, she won't be so interested in breaking bones or the like, will she?" He asked honestly.

Cloud directed a startled glance at him, then started laughing softly.

"You're _laughing_ at me?" _Emotion from the emotionless... this town is _so_ screwed up. _"What'd I do _this_ time?"

Cloud stopped suddenly, shook his head. "Don't worry. I think..." He fell silent.

"No, you can't stop when you're about to tell me something," the youth voiced in frustration. "You think what?"

"I think... Yuffie will be surprised." He turned and stalked off, red cape fluttering dramatically down the frozen goods isle.

* * *

He made it out of the store. Just. A girl had suddenly sidled up to him at the checkout, cooing sweet names and generally confusing him a _lot. _When he'd asked her what she was doing, she'd just clung to his arm and giggled mindlessly up at him. The woman at the checkout scowled at her empty-headed blonde co-worker and shooed her away, muttering something about "crazy fangirls" and "pretty boys" under her breath as she packed the rest of his purchases away.

He'd managed to stumble out of the store, arms laden with groceries. Only three bags, but he wasn't used to such work... not work like shopping. _Why did Kairi _want_ me to go shopping with her? _he asked himself. _It's... it's hell. Hell in a store. Yippee._

Such were Riku's thoughts as he travelled the slush-covered streets back to the small residence of Yuffie Kisaragi; he was so busy thinking them that he hardly noticed the tiny grey wisp of smoke at his feet until it nearly tripped him and spilt a packet of frozen peas - he didn't even like peas and was suddenly caught wondering why he'd bothered buying them - but managed to check himself just in time.

_A kitten..._ he reached down and patted it on the head, managing with difficulty to balance the bags of groceries. "Where're you from?" He inquired lightly, grinning at the way it wormed under his slender fingers. It gave a tiny hiccupping meow in reply, closing its pale blue eyes. "Wait here."

He left her - yes, it was officially female, he'd decided - on the doorstep, feeling almost guilty as he dumped the groceries hurriedly and tapped an impatient foot while the microwave heated a little saucer of milk. The second it was warm, he rushed back outside into the freezing wind and offered his new friend a drink. She lapped it up gratefully while he provided a wind barrier for her small frame. When the saucer was half-empty, he picked the round cat up. She blinked at him, licking a comical milk moustache and burping silently on her back in his arms. He had to laugh.

Riku looked around at the sound of a concealed cough, sitting on the step; Yuffie looked at him and the kitten emotionlessly, arms crossed. "Are you going to keep it?" She asked tonelessly; things were still rough between them. He nodded affirmation. "You'll have to take care of it yourself, then," she said shortly. "I don't care much for strays." With that she headed inside.

"...Ouch. Not nice, Yuffie." He murmured, turning his attention back to the kitten with a wince.

He felt her presence several times hovering behind him that afternoon, but took care not to let any reaction show. If she wanted to tiptoe around, he wasn't about to ruin her fun when she was so angry with him. Of course, when eventually he felt her shadow resting on his shoulder as he groomed the kitten gently with his fingers, it was almost too much not to turn and say something. He managed, though, and after a moment Yuffie padded inside and came back out with a soft leather pouch and some small tools. She sat a few feet away, legs curled up beneath her, and brought out a shuriken and began sharpening it, turning it this way and that, and eventually, when each weapon was restored to its original dangerous state, polishing each one separately. She was absorbed in her work, sitting right beside Riku who was taking every opportunity to bask in the limited 'sunlight' and pet his new-found friend. It was the most peaceful and comfortable he'd felt with her since the day before, and he was glad for it.

"I got a letter," the ninja spoke suddenly, just as Riku was about to shift to another patch of warm light. "From Aerith."

"Aerith...?" the aquamarine-eyed youth queried after a moment, figuring he had the right to. _I think I know this person... _a fleeting image of pink flashed through his head, and he shook it, silver strands flying every which way.

"Mmm. A friend. From Hollow Bastion."

_Ahh, that's where..._

"I believe, you were evil last time you met?" She said matter-of-factly.

"I never actually met her," he snapped back; she merely sat back complacently, refusing to take the bait. "I just remember something... she wears a helluva lot of pink, right? And she's a healer, mostly... I _have _spoken to Sora, you know..."

"That's right. Well. She's coming to visit. In two days." The tiny girl smirked, although she probably wouldn't have described it as one, and crossed her arms, waiting for a response.

He wasn't going to give her the satisfaction of one. "Is that so." He murmured, more to fill in the silence than for any particular wish to speak. "Well, at least we have enough groceries."

That was the first and only mention that day of his little shopping trip. He tried not to feel insulted and unwanted as she gave him a mere, incredulous glance from under hooded eyes, and rose to step back inside. _She's still... angry, right? I can't make it all better. Why won't she even try to forgive me? I really don't get this..._

_"Ooh, I hurt you," he said nastily in a fake concerned tone, taking a step towards her. "Would you like a kiss to make it all better?" _

_She blanched, and for a moment he thought she was going to hit him, and felt sudden guilt. "Is that what you think will solve all the problems of the world?" She asked him, narrowed eyes flaming. "Do you really think so? Fine." She shoved him against the wall and tangled her fingers in his black shirt, then kissed him fiercely on the mouth, hurting his tender lips as she pressed against his teeth. A second later, she pulled back, before he could even comprehend what she had done…_

_I feel so_ guilty... he thought, hands dangling uselessly in his lap as he stared forlornly at the ground. The kitten pawed at him.

* * *

Looking at the author notes for this, I suspect that I should always be ending with a 'goddammit Cloud!' or something. Ahh, well. This is the last chapter to be edited. Funfun! Perhaps, now we can see if I can take this writingness of mine and turn it into inspiration for chapter 9.

From Tally, to Ann (and Candace and whoever else wants it. Sorry, Candy-chan, but Ann is the main one still-- simply because I originally wrote this for her.)

---------phweeeee from the tally!sock.


	9. Aerith's Ways

**Renegade Hearts**  
**Chapter 9: **_**Aerith's Ways**_

* * *

The woman stood quietly at the train station, watching as the train departed. As it disappeared from the horizon, she finally turned her green gaze to the rest of the scenery. Dust blew along the red cobblestones. A desolate place…

"Aerith?"

She turned, pink dress whipping in the wind about her slim body. When she saw the object of interest, she smiled and raised an arm in greeting. "Yuffie? Hello!"

The ninja who'd called her name sprinted up to the woman, practically attacking her. "You're here! You made it! But… why'd you come on the train? I thought Cid was flying you here – cheap bastard. He didn't bother, did he." Yuffie narrowed her eyes. "I should've known…"

Aerith laughed, and gently slapped the girl's hand as an admonishment for her language. "Actually, he took me here. He just had to check on Merlin, had some unfinished business or something-"

"Unfinished business, eh…" Yuffie scowled. "Drinking partners more like. So… he ditched you at Merlin's?"

"Yeah. And Traverse is so big now it was easier to get the train here than walk all the way." Glancing around, the girl's eyes widened as she took in the appearance of Yuffie's companion; but somehow, Riku felt that she'd already known he was there, and was simply biding her time for the right moment. "Who would this be?"

Yuffie smiled, one that reached those indigo eyes for the barest moment, then the spark fled – obviously still irritated with him. He stepped up, trying to ignore the pain in his leg, and held out one leather-clad hand. "I'm Riku. Hello."

"Riku? Ah, you're Sora's friend! How are you?" The girl smiled brightly, and kept up the small chatter, and it all felt so, so false as they exchanged greetings and walked from the platform.

* * *

Yuffie ran to put a kettle on to boil as soon as the three of them were standing in the hall of her tiny house, calling behind her cheerily to 'make yourselves at home', as though Riku hadn't been doing any such thing these past weeks. So he shrugged off the long leather coat he'd worn against the icy wind, accepted Aerith's red one, and turned to hang them both on the brass hooks just inside the door. Dimly, he noted that that showed she used to get a lot of company, and company that wasn't Cloud – the blond swordsman hadn't bothered hanging up his jacket, instead dropping it to the floor wherever he sat before the fire. This was only a passing thought, however, as he felt those large green eyes boring into his back, calculating and coolly in control.

Limping into the kitchen area, he made a brusque movement with his hand without looking at Aerith; he didn't need to, she followed after a moment with just the signal. Somehow, he didn't feel comfortable talking to her. Maybe it was the way she kept looking at him, judging him…

"Your leg's hurt."

Riku winced. _Really. _"Yuffie's mostly fixed it." He managed to force out awkwardly, cursing all attentive women and angry young girls, however unfair it might sound. The heat had stung a little when he first walked into the room; odd, but he supposed the cold had numbed it.

"Could I take a look?" The woman asked. She was obviously a healer, and was homing in already on his leg.

He flushed. _She just asked to look at my leg. More specifically, the upper part of my leg. _"Oh, dear, I don't think I'm quite ready for that – we just met!" He declared with a flourish, dramatically passing his hand over his eyes.

"Ouch. Ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow." Unbeknownst to the silver-haired youth, the resident ninja of the house had just come up behind him. She'd also obviously developed psychic powers, and had taken the liberty to cleanse his head of those thoughts using physical force.

Yuffie scowled darkly at the flirting boy. "Just let her take a look. It'll only be a minute. And it's not like you'll have to strip or anything – Aer's too professional for that."

_Cornered. Drat._ So he stood, and let the woman approach him, and watched Yuffie out of the corner of his eye, noting the flush that had settled over her cheeks until the newcomer called his attention again.

Green eyes held him in place with their tranquility, somehow – that was how it felt, anyway. And she did a funny thing with her hand, and some weird green light glowed, and he still found it strange even though he'd experienced and cast Cura a thousand times before, but still –

It seemed this friend of Yuffie's healed slightly differently to other people he'd fought with; or maybe that was the difference, that he'd never had enough time in battle for the healer to lay cool, calming hands on either side of his head. But Riku was pretty sure that he'd never actually been talked to during the process…

_Hmph. Seems more like you need to forgive yourself first._

…_the hell?_

_You didn't need to say something like that. I said, before you can get someone else's forgiveness, which it's plain as Merlin's beard that's what you want, you need to get over your little infatuation with self-blame._

_Easy for you to say. _Her comment stung a little, in turn making him bitter – he sounded like a petulant child! _You never turned evil._

_Puh-lease. _Somehow, the healer's mind-voice conveyed irony. _Get over the obsession with darkness, and it'll make everyone a lot happier. Yourself included. Have you ever tried to simply walk in the light, leave all your troubles for a little while and enjoy life for what it is? And don't you _dare, she added sternly as he tried to push into the odd conversation, _try to tell me this is cheap fake happiness talk. It works. I know it does._

_Give me proof, then._

Dimly, outside the recesses of his mind, he heard the brunette laugh a tinkling laugh, but he was more focused on what was going on inside his head. _Just look at Cloud. Yuffie. Yourself, occasionally, but I didn't say that._

Abruptly, it was over, and he shook his head in sudden confusion. His temples where her hands had rested felt suddenly cool. "What just happened?" he asked Aerith directly, giving her a wary, sideways glance. There was some sort of muffled sound from Yuffie, but when he looked in her direction, her face was impassive.

_Whatever. She's not gettin' her little healer hands on me again. I like my thoughts the way they are, nice and private and _mine.

It was probably a good thing Riku wasn't in Aerith's mind, on the other hand, right now. He may have been very, very scared. Especially in the direction Aerith's thoughts were going, with him and Yuffie…

"Riku, pass the sauce, please."

* * *

The blond in question was simply standing before the Accessory Shop, blinking. Once. Twice. Three times –

"– y' mothafuckin' moogles, get yer lazy arses up that there ladder quicksmart before I take a bloody gummi to your behinds –"

"Oh, god."

Cid spun, nearly losing his straw. "Cloud! Mate! Haven't seen ya for ages!"

Cloud blinked again; he was quickly losing any semblance of intelligence he'd possessed. "You're back." He noted, and a moogle quickly shoved a small keychain into his hands – 'Mr. State-the-Obvious' was inscribed on it. He threw it at the creature's head with barely a withering glare and turned back to Cid. "You're back." He said again.

Cid raised an eyebrow as the moogle tried to return the keychain – "It's on the house, kupo!" – and spoke.

"Yeah. I'm back. Where's the Yuffsters?"

The Battle of the Eyebrows had officially begun; the Buster Blade wielder raised both his, one a little less than the other, giving him a very quizzical yet attractive appearance that was only slightly marred by the fact that one blond spike was currently sporting a curious little keychain courtesy of the moogles. "She's at her place. Where she always is. Did you come back for the anniversary?"

Cid waggled his own formidably expressive eyebrows and spat around his straw. "Hardly an anniversary. Aer's come to see her." He waggled his eyebrows so quickly they blurred, and Cloud blinked stupidly yet again.

"Right. Ah. Okay. Well. See you around, Cid."

"Right. Okay – Merlin! Get over here, Cloud, don't even think about walking away, go get some drinks, you've gotta stick around, you wouldn't believe the shit this guy's been through! One helluva tale, I'll tell you!"

Cloud's face was expressionless, still eyebrows and all; inner Cloud cried silently as he was bound with the ruthless fetters of obligatory free drinks and old men's tales.

* * *

Aerith blinked suddenly, going very still, hands folded in her lap. "Where does Cid usually drink, Yuffie?" She asked, deceptively calm tone signifying a storm brewing underneath and, perhaps, some extrasensory psychic powers picking up on a distress call somewhere.

Yuffie paused, mouth full with half a chicken barbeque kebab. "A' hish shed. Gummih sho'." She said uncertainly and more than a little incomprehensibly.

"At his shed, the Gummi shop? I see. Thank you." And with that, she rose and left the table regally.

Riku stared after her, then turned to gape at Yuffie, who shrugged. "Dun' look at me. I didn't raise her." She told him petulantly, leaning over and grabbing a few slices of fresh bread.

The boy shook his head, understandably confused by the goings on of the past two hours or so.

* * *

Peace reigned that night, and the next day was a non-committal blur for Riku. He found that no matter what he said to Yuffie, she always responded in a neutral tone; a pleasant change from the vicious attacks of the previous days. While she never commented on his endeavours to do more about the house – ironing had never been his forte or his passion, and he believed that she'd better be damned grateful that he'd even bothered to try and only singed one tablecloth – her attitude toward him softened dramatically.

Aerith's almost sickening sweetness and understanding may have helped a few things along a bit. When Yuffie nearly blew her fuse at Riku for taking all the cereal that morning, it was she who stepped in with her brief words of wisdom and prevented what would normally have been an inevitable fight.

It was enjoyable, the young man thought, relaxing in the hallway that afternoon after a particularly difficult struggle with the mold in the shower. Aerith had gone out a little earlier, and Yuffie had confined herself in her room, no doubt rugged up and polishing the bloody shuriken yet again. Leaning back on the wall for a moment, arms crossed and brilliant eyes lidded in tiredness, he reflected that it almost felt like a family, almost felt like being back on the islands.

* * *

Footsteps sounded on the stone floor, and Cid glanced up to see Aerith enter his shop daintily, closing the door gently behind her.

"Hello, Cid. I see you've settled in again." She greeted the gruff straw-haired man with a sweet (but certainly vicious – something the man seemed to miss) smile which he responded in kind.

"Well, m'workers have kept the place up 'n going for me, Aer," he told her, wiping hands on a leather apron and coming out from behind the counter. He'd clearly missed his work. "I think I'll come back 'ere when I've flown you back to the Bastion." She inclined her head in acqueisance. "How's Yuffie?" He asked her.

"She seems to be okay; a little at odds with the youth she's taken in however," the flower-girl said, inspecting some delicate jewellry in a display. Green eyes met startled blue ones; he hadn't known of Riku.

Quickly she sketched in what she'd heard of the arrangement from Cloud, and what she'd deduced from a few hours in the house. "They just seem to be opposites. She says one thing, he'll go and do another. I think it's driving the both of them crazy. I know right now they hardly talk to each other." She finished up.

Cid grinned. "Tha's just Yuffie with anyone. Give 'em some time. You know," he winked, "Opposites attract, Aer."

They both laughed. Then Aerith sobered suddenly again. "That's true, but…"

"But what?" Somehow, Cid managed to miss all the warning signs of an impending explosion.

"They need to have sex, goddammit!" Aerith shouted furiously, all of a sudden.

Cid froze, eyes comically wide. His mouth worked but no sound came out.

Aerith blinked and glanced at him, smiling prettily. "What?" She asked of his stunned appearance.

The blond pilot shook his head jerkily, making a note never to cross Aerith, and never, _ever _to go against her plans. To do so would mean a cruel and inevitable death. She had rarely snapped like this before him, and he, shaken, hoped fervently that she would never do it again.

* * *

…I fall to my knees and beg forgiveness. Sorry, Ann. A thousand times sorry.

Kind of shitty, short, disjointed, out-of-character, comedy-slash-serious, bullshitting chapter. Next chapter I think I need some action – possibly romantic, definitely sparring. Someone needs to fight, to break up the monotony of life. Riku and Yuffie spar next? That sounds good to me. I'd love to see Aerith fight, actually, with her bo staff or sommat. Superwoman Aerith makes her appearance. As if Aerith never acts like that. Probably wrote one of my favourite scenes in this chapter – where Cloud notices that Cid's back. XD And I'll leave it up to your imagination as to what happened to poor Cloud. However was the obligated blond rescued? But, in my defence, I'm quite pleased with my editing of the previous chapters. For editing, it really does help to leave it for a while. Here's hoping this is liked.

**Tallyyyyyy.**


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